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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell fibs for a soup recipe

269 replies

Soupreme · 13/12/2017 09:34

Last week I was out for my works Xmas lunch. Overall the lunch was pretty decent, but the starter, lentil soup, was out of this world. It was the most amazing soup I've ever tasted! Seriously I almost cried.

The past week I've thought about the soup every night, thinking of how i can get my hands on the recipe.

If I simply phone the restaurant and say OMG your soup was amazing please give me the recipe I'm certain they'll say no.

Is it wrong to say I had a funny reaction to the soup please give me a list of all the ingredients (preferably with quanititesGrin)?

Or could I say I'm coming to your restaurant and I have funny allergies what's in your lentil soup exactly?

Help I need this recipe! The restaurant is a long drive from my work and home so DH will be like I'm not driving ☓ miles for a bowl of soup.

If I don't get this recipe I will regret it forever. Santa if you're up there i take back my request for Dreamgirls tickets please can you get me this recipe!

OP posts:
LinkyPlease · 14/12/2017 15:49

Following. I've got an amazingly simple but wonderful lentil soup recipe. I'm going to make yours alongside mine and see which is nicer. If mine is I promise to post my recipe too.

As a side note I'd never had lentil soup before last Christmas. My cousin invited me over for a pre Xmas gift exchange and provided lentil soup for lunch. 'So bla' thought I. Three mouthfuls later my life was changed. I can't wait to see if this new soup surpasses even this

Brew (mug of soup)

thenightsky · 14/12/2017 15:52

Shameless place marking in anticipation of amazing soup recipe.

Nurse15 · 14/12/2017 15:52

Also place marking for soup recipe! I haven't been this excited in ages haha

collywobble · 14/12/2017 15:54

Place marking as I do love a good soup Smile

Original poster
Soupreme · 14/12/2017 15:55

whiskeyowl cantuccit it IS vegetarian!

I'm sure many will find this underwhelming, kind of like when someone reveals the secret behind a magic trick and it's no longer impressive, but I've enjoyed the journey with you all. Here goes...

1 X Celery
1 x Bag of Carrots
2 X Onions

Dice all the above veg.

To a hot pot add:
Minced Garlic and Diced Veg
2 tablespoons Veg Stock
1 Block of Butter
Lentils
Water
Boil Slowly
Then Season.

My questions;
Quantities. How many grams in a bag of carrots? How many cloves of garlic?
Veg stock. Is this freshly prepared or made from a stock cube?
Lentils. What type are used? (I remember it was a green colour)
A whole block of butter? That seems overkill but I'm a sucker for bread and butter so maybe that's what swung me.

I love the simplicity though and the fact it's affordable, and not using any crazy ingredients bought for one recipe then left in the cupboard to go past it's use by date.

Thoughts?

OP posts:
ThatsWotSheSaid · 14/12/2017 15:56

I too am a big fan of all things lentilly and all thing soupy. Watching with interest.

Giraffey1 · 14/12/2017 16:00

How many lentils would be good to know!!!!
Ditto water etc.
A whole block of butter?! Blimey!

How much soup does this make?

ScarlettDarling · 14/12/2017 16:02

I was so excited, but op, I'm not impressed with the recipe. A block of butter?! Surely it would be greasy as hell?

PeekabooPoo · 14/12/2017 16:03

Red or green lentils?

HardHatForTesco · 14/12/2017 16:05

The chef has been very clever in passing on the ingredients without the exact quantities! It's the sort of thing my brother (chef) would do, he is protective of his recipes and has also confided in me that he will often leave something out!
The veg stock is most likely a concentrated veg bouillion paste if it's only two tablespoons needed for the whole batch - 2 tablespoons of dilute veg stock wouldn't be enough for flavour. As for the quantities of the other things, it's anyone's guess.

BitOutOfPractice · 14/12/2017 16:08

Dammit. I'll have to stick with my spicy sweet corn soup with crispy chipotle bacon on top

MsHomeSlice · 14/12/2017 16:12

hmmmm does she mean a whole head of celery? I'd say that was a lot compared to a bag of carrots and just two onions.

and lentils...that's unhelpful, no type or quantity.

Beside which the best soup is Yellow Split pea and Ham, everyone knows that.

Mrsfloss · 14/12/2017 16:15

Butter? In lentil soup?

SummerKelly · 14/12/2017 16:16

There doesn't seem to be anything particularly special in here - I've made soup with these ingredients in a random what's in the cupboards way (not a block of butter though!) - did you feel there was something in it not on this list?

whiskyowl · 14/12/2017 16:16

It looks to me like some of the ingredients have been scaled for the domestic cook and some haven't! A block of butter is probably for a huge pan full, 2 onions have probably been scaled.

I suspect that the stock/seasoning is the thing that will have made this soup amazing - a lentil soup with those same ingredients without those would be bland. OP, you have no choice but to go back again and have the same soup and try to identify the flavours!! Grin

whiskyowl · 14/12/2017 16:17

I nearly always fry the base veggies for soup in butter - adds a really lovely deep, rich flavour.

I discovered leaf celery this year - much better taste than the stick celery from supermarkets!

Merryhobnobs · 14/12/2017 16:22

I really wasn't expecting it to be somewhere I know - I am originally from Dumfries. I am back a few times throughout the year to visit family and we went to Mabie in the summer, hadn't been for years and it was nice. I didn't have the soup though... Why not give them a phone? Some places don't really use email much. And Dumfries is a small place so someone is bound to know someone who works there if you put a shout out on facebook?

Merryhobnobs · 14/12/2017 16:24

I am too slow. See the recipe now. I am guessing green lentils!

and ooh butter...

Hulder · 14/12/2017 16:38

I told you the difference would be stock and a shit load of butter

HonniBee · 14/12/2017 16:43

I used to work in catering and there was one chef I worked with who was famous for his soups.

Turns out his secret ingredient was at least one whole block of butter added at the end.

BarbaraofSevillle · 14/12/2017 16:59

I would have thought that the whole block of butter would be for a fairly large panful (10-20 portions?). It is possible that there is such a thing as too much butter?

A bag of carrots could be any size from 500 g to 5/10 kg depending on whether you are buying from the supermarket or a catering supplier.

Given that the recipe doesn't look hugely different to the Covent Garden one I posted above, I would go with (forgive the mixing of metric and imperial measurements. Despite what a lot of recipe books say, exact quanties really don't matter, especially for soup):

Fry 2 onions, 250g carrots, couple of sticks of celery and a couple of cloves of garlic in an ounce or two of butter until soft.

Add 165g split green lentils, tablespoon of Marigold and 1.5 litres water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Blend and season with salt and pepper and add chopped parsley if you want a herby taste.

BarbaraofSevillle · 14/12/2017 17:01

It's also possible that the type of lentils don't matter. Do they taste any different, lentil connoseurs? I would have thought appearance and texture were more significant in most cases and that would be where they remain whole, so not an issue for soup.

ArchchancellorsHat · 14/12/2017 17:11

I've always been told that you want about the same quantity of the carrots, onions and celery. The recipe looks almost the same as my usual one and that's how I make it. Will try adding some butter next time!

mikeyssister · 14/12/2017 17:26

@BarbaraofSevillle, what's Marigold?

crackerjacket · 14/12/2017 17:34

That's gonna make one hell of a batch of soup.

And a block of butter!

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