{"id":998,"date":"2015-06-10T23:33:10","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T04:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=998"},"modified":"2015-11-06T13:53:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T19:53:32","slug":"parsnips-and-pork-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=998","title":{"rendered":"Midwinter Grill:  Barbecue Pork &amp; Parsnips Soup"},"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%3D998&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><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_999\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Barbecuer.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-999\" class=\"wp-image-999 size-medium\" style=\"border: 10px solid black;\" title=\"Barbecuer\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Barbecuer-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Barbecuer-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Barbecuer-100x74.jpg 100w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Barbecuer-1024x765.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Barbecuer.jpg 1511w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-999\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boy Meets Grill, Freezes to Death<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We had our first false spring last week, only to have the weather turn cold again on the eve of Chicago\u2019s mayoral election.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure by the time the new mayor takes office, he\u2019ll have us on the road to a prolonged thaw. \u00a0Rahm won\u2019t officially take office until May, but he is liable to heat things up a bit before that.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s certainly well-known for his heated language.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, I think I\u2019ll still have to keep the grill on ice for a while longer.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s sad.<\/p>\n<p>I had begun thinking of taking my family\u2019s standard recipe for ribs (a terrific herbed dry rub, see below) out to the barbecue, but for now, I guess I\u2019ll just keep roasting them in the oven.<\/p>\n<p>The ribs are a real kid pleaser, which is why I figured I\u2019d try to adapt them into a soup recipe.\u00a0 Adaptation was key, since soup is never going to be something you can pick up and gnaw off the bone.<\/p>\n<p>The barbecue soup idea came to me during our not quite spring cleaning of our freezer.\u00a0 We have been slowly working through the frozen fish and ribs and potstickers and chicken that have been taking up space in the iciest part of the icebox for way too long.\u00a0 That\u2019s what brought the pork tenderloin into play. That and several hours above freezing.<\/p>\n<p>Once it was thawed, I chopped it up, pulled out the jar of spice rub which we always have ready for rib night (No, we don\u2019t have ribs every week, but it\u2019s comfort food people.) and tossed them together.\u00a0 The spice rub, which I originally stole from the <em>Joy of Cooking<\/em> (1997 version, the one I got to work on), is just dried herbs and spices so it can be made ahead of time. It\u2019s not in the rub section, though, it\u2019s under Oven-roasted Spareribs and I can\u2019t tell you if it made it into subsequent editions of the<em> Joy<\/em>.\u00a0 Regardless\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The ribs take at least an hour and a half, although longer and slower make them even better, as is the case with most barbecue.\u00a0 I put the tenderloin in at 250\u00b0F for 45 minutes because I thought that would be enough time to seal in the herb-roasted flavor.<\/p>\n<p>I was right.<\/p>\n<p>As a companion for the roast pork, I got hold of a couple of pounds of parsnips that I figured could make up the soup base.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t used parsnips all that often in this blog and certainly never in a featured role.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit sweeter than its cousin the carrot and it\u2019s got a lot more bite too.\u00a0 But just to be on the safe side, I threw in a few cloves of garlic to round it all out and pureed the whole thing into a smooth blend.<\/p>\n<p>The parsnip base now had a rich, almost creamy taste that really complemented the roast pork.\u00a0 All I had to do after I added the meat was let the whole thing simmer for a few minutes so the flavors married together a bit.<\/p>\n<p>The only comment from the family was that it was pretty thick, but that was before I added the fifth cup of stock.\u00a0 After that, the soup was, to quote myself\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Perfect for a cold pre-spring day when you\u2019re still stuck inside.<\/p>\n<p>Perfect because this soup lets you taste the warm weather coming on the next few pages of the calendar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barbecue Pork &amp; Parsnips Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 6-8)<br \/>\nSpice Rub<br \/>\n2 t sage<br \/>\n2 t salt<br \/>\n1 t ground black pepper<br \/>\n1 t thyme<br \/>\n1 small pork tenderloin (mine was a little more than 12 ounces), cut into \u00bd-inch cubes (roughly, no ruler necessary)<br \/>\n1 T canola oil<br \/>\n2 lbs parsnips, peeled and chopped<br \/>\n2 cloves garlic, sliced<br \/>\nsalt &amp; pepper to taste<br \/>\n5 cups stock<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Preheat the oven to 250 \u00b0F, then combine the herbs for the spice rub\u00a0 in a bowl, grinding them together in your fingertips.\u00a0 (dried herbs are probably the way to go here)<\/li>\n<li>Toss the chunks of pork with the spice rub to coat each piece of meat, then put them in a small baking pan and roast for 30-45 minutes.\u00a0 Set aside when done.<\/li>\n<li>In the mean time heat the oil in a 3 quart stock pot, add the parsnips and garlic and brown slightly.<\/li>\n<li>Before you burn the garlic add the stock and seasonings, bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Now that the parsnips are nice and soft, puree the soup mixture with an immersion blender (or bar blender, that always works too) until the texture is very smooth.<\/li>\n<li>Add the roasted pork to the soup and bring the mixture to a simmer for about 10 minutes.\u00a0 This gives the pork the chance to marry its flavor with the rest of the soup.<\/li>\n<li>Serve warm and eat.\u00a0 You won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: <\/em>\u201cFrozen Barbecue\u201d\u00a0 A cold lonely image by the author.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Okay, maybe I didn\u2019t stick to a strictly seasonal theme this week.\u00a0 But parsnips are available right now and so\u2019s the meat.\u00a0 I guess my beef isn\u2019t with the ingredients, it\u2019s with the weather.\u00a0 My question to you is:\u00a0 Hot enough for you? Leave a comment.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; We had our first false spring last week, only to have the weather turn cold again on the eve of Chicago\u2019s mayoral election.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure by the time the new mayor takes office, he\u2019ll have us on the road to a prolonged thaw. \u00a0Rahm won\u2019t officially take office until May, but he is liable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126,19,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-dairy-products","category-parsnips","category-pork"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","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=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2206,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/2206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}