{"id":451,"date":"2014-05-20T08:33:58","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T13:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=451"},"modified":"2015-11-06T15:30:29","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T21:30:29","slug":"getting-into-a-little-rhubarb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=451","title":{"rendered":"Getting Into A Little Rhubarb"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D451&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_452\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Rhubarb-Image.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-452\" class=\"wp-image-452\" title=\"Rhubarb Image\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Rhubarb-Image-300x234.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Rhubarb-Image-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Rhubarb-Image.jpg 611w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food Fight<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Everything I know about rhubarb fits into a tin or a diamond\u2014from the sweet-tart pie filling that out-sours both Pippin and Granny Smith apples to the everyday scuffles that used to define baseball before money did.\u00a0 (Did somebody say sour?)<\/p>\n<p>So when my sister-in-law walked me through the early part of her garden clipping rhubarb for a Mother\u2019s Day dessert, I wasn\u2019t sure what to do with the big red celery-like stalks she gave me.\u00a0 I knew there was a soup in there somewhere but I didn\u2019t know how to find it.<\/p>\n<p>My first instinct was to make a sweet-tart fruit soup, a rhubarb strawberry or rhubarb mint.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not really into the dessert soup thing and an amuse bouche wouldn\u2019t get a lot of play at my house.<\/p>\n<p>What I settled on was something more savory.\u00a0 Drawing inspiration from the classic sweet and sour pairing of pork and apples, I sauteed the rhubarb with onions and combined it with well-seasoned pork that I browned separately.\u00a0 But the pork wasn\u2019t enough. When I added the stock, and put all the elements together, the rhubarb beat up on everything else in the pot.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a reason why rhubarb is another word for a fight.<\/p>\n<p>All my remaining efforts went into taming the rhubarb and giving the soup a mellower flavor. Sage, brown sugar, sour cream and green onions turned this dish into a really good soup\u2014with a little nuance and a lot of punch.<\/p>\n<p>Not to worry, though, the gloves are on.\u00a0 Nobody\u2019s going to get hurt.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Bonus Recipe:<br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong>As I was messing around with the leftover pork, I stumbled on what should have been an obvious alternative solution to my rhubarb soup quandary\u2014heat.<\/p>\n<p>I have always loved hot and sour soups.\u00a0 From the Tom Yum soups of Thailand to the Chinese varieties you find in every restaurant, the juxtaposition (love that word) of lime or vinegar with the spicy heat of chilies is something I go for every time.<\/p>\n<p>Rhubarb makes for a good sour.\u00a0 For heat, my leftovers turned into pork asada.<\/p>\n<p>Together they make for a great hot and sour soup, North American style. \u00a0It\u2019s a little more time consuming but not all that labor intensive.\u00a0 I cooked the pork with spices, salsa and onions over low heat for about six hours until the pork was falling apart.\u00a0 Then I ripped it to shreds with a pair of forks.\u00a0 To finish, I stirred some of it into the rhubarb soup I\u2019d already made and the combination was terrific.<\/p>\n<p>After all, in a real rhubarb, the gloves come off.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rhubarb Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 4-6)<br \/>\n1tablespoon butter<br \/>\n1 lb rhubarb, sliced thin<br \/>\n2 cups onions, chopped<br \/>\nSalt and pepper<br \/>\n1 lb pork, diced<br \/>\n1 tablespoon butter<br \/>\n4 cups stock<br \/>\n2 T sage<br \/>\n\u00bc cup brown sugar<br \/>\nSalt and pepper to taste<br \/>\n\u00bd cup sour cream<br \/>\n1 bunch scallions, whites and greens, in 1\u201d slices<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat butter in a large pot, then saut\u00e9 onions and peppers until tender.<\/li>\n<li>Season the pork with equal amounts salt and pepper, then brown it over medium heat in the remaining butter.<\/li>\n<li>Add stock, sage, brown sugar and seasonings.\u00a0 Bring to a boil.\u00a0 Cover and reduce to a simmer for 30-45 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Fold sour cream and sliced scallions into the soup and heat through.<\/li>\n<li>Serve warm with savory muffins or a sweet quick bread (banana bread works well).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Pork Asada<br \/>\n<\/strong>(for hot and sour alternative)<br \/>\n1 teaspoon chili powder<br \/>\n1 teaspoon paprika<br \/>\n1 teaspoon garlic powder<br \/>\n1 teaspoon cumin<br \/>\n12 ounces pork, in large chunks<br \/>\n1 onion, sliced thin<br \/>\n1 cup salsa, mild to hot, you know your limits<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Mix spices together in a bowl and toss with pork until meat is thoroughly coated.<\/li>\n<li>Layer onions in the bottom of a medium sized pot, top with the pork and pour the salsa over that.<\/li>\n<li>Cover and cook over low heat for 6-8 hours.<\/li>\n<li>Pull the pork apart with two forks.<\/li>\n<li>Combine with above rhubarb soup recipe in place of\u00a0 the milder pork or serve on crackers right out of the pot.\u00a0 (My 8- and 10-year-olds could not get enough of this, heat and all.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: Another Amateurish Graphic created by the author from readily available internet imagery.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hot and sour, sweet and sour, hot and sweet. It\u2019s extreme cooking at its most dangerous and delicious.\u00a0 What combinations are you sweet on?\u00a0 Anything that makes you hot please keep to yourself.\u00a0 Oh all right.\u00a0 That\u2019s cool too.\u00a0 Please comment.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be reading <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> responding.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everything I know about rhubarb fits into a tin or a diamond\u2014from the sweet-tart pie filling that out-sours both Pippin and Granny Smith apples to the everyday scuffles that used to define baseball before money did.\u00a0 (Did somebody say sour?) So when my sister-in-law walked me through the early part of her garden clipping rhubarb [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,64,10,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dairy","category-herbs","category-pork","category-rhubarb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2269,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/2269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}