One of the crosses we have to bear, living in nowheres-ville in Florida, is that there are no decent Chinese restaurants that are closer than a half hour away. I positively LOVE hot and sour soup. We were checking out some various hot and sour soup recipes, and Eric found this one, which, oddly enough, is a CROCK POT recipe, but actually sounds good.

Anyone else have a good hot and sour soup recipe??? Several of the ones I saw didn't even have any 'hot' elements. How weird is that??

BTW, I don't know if that website has been posted here before, but it's an interesting website for crock pot cooking..

interesting recipe. here's a (non-slowcooker) hot and sour soup recipe. it's very good.

hot and sour chicken soup, serves 4

3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 lb small mushrooms
1/2 cup canned, sliced bamboo
fresh ginger, unpeeled- 3 slices about 1/4"thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 scallions
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 egg

in a medium covered saucepan, bring broth, water, mushrooms, bamboo, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and pepper flakes to a boil over med-high heat. reduce heat to low, cover and simmer while you prepare remaining ingredients.

cut chicken into 1/4" slices. in a bowl toss the chicken with sesame oil.

finely chop scallions and cilantro. in a small bowl, blend vinegar and cornstarch together. in another small bowl lightly beat egg.

increase heat of broth to med-high and return to a boil. add chicken to soup. stirring constantly, slowly pour in egg. stir in vinegar mixture. cook, stirring occassionally, until chicken is cooked through and soup is slightly thickenend, about 3mins.

remove ginger slices before serving and stir in scallion and cilantro.

and here's another. i know you're a fan of mr.bam.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/classic-hot-and-sour-soup-recipe/index.html

Thanks for those recipes! The first recipe you posted there, I wonder, does it freeze??? Do you think you could prepare it, up until the part where you stir in the egg, freeze it and then put in the egg when you serve it?? All the recipes make too much for one serving apiece and it seems a lot of trouble to make, if you were to halve it..

Interesting, several of the recipes I find call for chicken. It seems that in chinese restaurants, it's always tofu.. I'm not a big fan of tofu in general, just that seems to be the way they always serve it..

carol, i don't have much point of comparison, as i don't eat hot and sour soup often. however, the (first) recipe i posted is the only hot and sour soup i've ever had and liked. like you, i'm not a big tofu fan so the chicken works well for my palate. the recipe sounds lengthy, but it doesn't take much time at all, approx 20min, so freezing never occured to me. i also cook for two and we enjoy the extra servings the next day. it reheats well.

OK, thanks. Whenever I have had leftover hot and sour soup from a restaurant it was extremely thick after it got cold and did not reheat well. Again, those were made with tofu, so maybe that will not be an issue with this one..

not certain, but i don't think the issue is due to the tofu. i think it has more to do with the thickening agent used by the restaurant; imo, the consistency is kind of gummy, which is unappealing to me. i don't find this to be the case in the recipe i posted. if you try it, let me know how you like it.

OK, will let you know. I made some from a pre packaged mix today, which was fairly gross. Thus my search for a recipe..

Carol,
I found this one... sounds good!

http://www.slow-cooker.com/hot-and-sour-soup.html

Hot-and-Sour Soup


INGREDIENTS:

•10 dried shiitake mushrooms (about 1 ounce)
•1 1/2 cups boiling water
•2 (10 1/2-ounce) cans low-salt chicken broth
•1 (4-ounce) boned center-cut loin pork chop, cut into thin strips
•4 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
•3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
•3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
•2 teaspoons fish sauce
•1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
•1/4 teaspoon white pepper (or black pepper)
•1 egg, lightly beaten
•1/4 cup minced green onion tops (optional)
•1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

DIRECTIONS:

1.Combine the mushrooms and boiling water in a bowl; cover and let stand 15 minutes.
2.Drain in a colander over a bowl.
3.Discard stems; rinse and cut caps into thin strips.
4.Combine the mushrooms, pork, and tofu and broth in the slow cooker pot or crockpot.
5.Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
6.Place pot on the stove over medium heat.
7.Combine cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, and peppers in a small bowl.
8.Add cornstarch mixture to pot.
9.Add egg, stirring as you add it to the pot.
10.Stir in onions and oil.
11.Enjoy your Hot and Sour Soup!

Brian--looks good! I wasn't necesarily looking for a crockpot hot and sour, just found that one. Do you have a recipe that you have used to make hot and sour soup?

Na... I have never made it myself... always been take-out!
But I think that one does sound good...
I'd make it now, but I'm making pea soup tomorrow...

I mentioned this earlier, but RecipeSource.com is my favorite recipe site. They have 3 pages of Hot and Sour soup recipes, though some are duplicates.

http://www.recipesource.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?search_string=hot+and+sour+soup

looks like a good resource. it lacks reviews though, which for me is an important basis especially when trying out a new recipe.

Yes, that's true, reviews are nice.

Wow, that's a great site...thanks for the link! Reviews are nice, but food is so subjective, that I just look at the ingredients and method and decide for myself whether I want to try the recipe.

I agree. I will sometimes take bits of 2-4 recipes and come up with my own version of a dish, just using the recipes for a reference point. It works for me anyhow <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

for great recipes, with reviews, that show additions/changes... try www.allrecipes.com ...
It's a great resource... especially for something you have never made before...

Brian:

How about sharing your pea soup rece <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />ipe.

OK... I'll let you know after it's done...
I'll have to write it down...

BUT basically I do this:
I just do a "little of this and a little of that" method...
Usually a couple ham bones (I have three this time, with lots of meat left on them)...
onoins, celrey & sliced/shreaded carrots, and yellow or green dried peas... and S&P to taste... I go easy on the salt...
I like yellow for the color, there's really no differance in taste...
(and a little crushed dried thyme)...
I simmer the ham bones for a few hours in chicken stock...
Then strain that... taking all the ham meat out... (discard the bones & cartilage)...
then use a large coarsley chopped onion, chopped celrey and the carrots in the stock... and the rinsed peas... and the thyme...
Simmer for a few hours hours or so, til the peas are done, then use the "motorboat" and puree it...
at the end I add the diced saved ham bits to re-heat them...

I love my mothers Split Pea Soup recipe. It alwyas gets rave reviews and is so simple.

Split Per Soup
1 lb bag green split peas rinsed.
1 large cooking onion
2 large carrots sliced
2 large ribs celery chopped
2 tap. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 large bay leaf
One ham bone
6 cups water

Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in a bit of oil. Add all the rest, bring to a simmer and cook for 2 hours. Remove the ham bone. take meat off the bone and add it to the soup. Add a dash of sherry and serve.

Thanks for your Moms' recipe. Sounds great and will try it.

Hi:

Just want to thank you (and your Mom) for the pea soup recipe. Made a double batch, one for the freezer, It was GREAT. Many many thanks. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Glad you enjoyed it. It does freeze well. I've tried using chicken stock instead of water and find I like the water better. Simple is best!