The Differences Between Broth, Bisque, Stock, and More Soup Types (2024)

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The Differences Between Broth, Bisque, Stock, and More Soup Types? ›

There are four main categories of soup: Thin, Thick, Cold and National. These types of soup are widely recognised in today's modern kitchen.

There are four main categories of soup: Thin, Thick, Cold and National. These types of soup are widely recognised in today's modern kitchen.

While it will also incorporate a seafood broth or stock for depth of flavor, bisque is defined by the addition of heavy cream and, sometimes, a thickening agent, which imparts a rich, velvety consistency.

So to recap and for a quick rule-of-thumb, stock is made with cleaned animal bones. Broth uses bones with meat still on them, or meat alone. And soup is made from either broth or stock, and has other ingredients added to it for texture and flavour.

A potage is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form a thick mush. Bisques are heavy cream soups traditionally prepared with shellfish, but can be made with any type of seafood or other base ingredients.

What Is Bisque? A bisque is a thick cream soup that chefs purée and strain for a fine, smooth final result. Traditional bisque recipes feature seafood like lobster, crayfish, shrimp, or crab as the main ingredient—chefs typically grind the crustacean shells into a fine paste to thicken the mixture.

: a soup or stew of seafood (such as clams or fish) usually made with milk or tomatoes, salt pork, onions, and other vegetables (such as potatoes) also : a soup resembling chowder. corn chowder.

Stock bases are usually sold as pastes or in liquid form, where broth bases are most commonly sold as powders or in cubes and can be referred to as bouillon. To use either of these in recipes, simply follow the package directions to add water to create the amount of stock or broth called for in your recipe.

What's the difference between a chowder and a stew? ›

Chowder. A chowder is typically chunky, filled with ingredients like potatoes, carrots and seafood in a thick liquid. The ingredients are often chopped into smaller pieces than you'd get with a stew. The word comes from the French word for cauldron (chaudron), which is the vessel fishermen used to cook their soup in.

Consommé is a stock or broth that's been clarified to remove impurities, yielding a crystal-clear liquid with no traces of fat. Common types of consommé include beef, chicken, veal, fish and tomato. It is often served at the start of a meal as a light appetizer.

Chowder. Although a bisque and a chowder are both cream-based soups and most often feature seafood, it is their consistency that defines them and makes them quite different from each other. Whereas a bisque is smooth, a chowder is chunky, chock full of hearty pieces of ingredients such as potato and clams or corn.

Garbure – a thick French soup or stew of ham with cabbage and other vegetables, usually with cheese and stale bread added. Lettuce soup. Oille – a French potée or soup believed to be the forerunner of pot-au-feu composed of various meats and vegetables.

Thick soups are classified depending on the type of thickening agent used: purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish thickened with cream; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter and cream.

At its most basic, soup is four components: a base, a thickener, a liquid, and a main ingredient. The liquid and main ingredient can be thought of as the essence: add 3 parts liquid to 2 parts main ingredient, and it's soup.

Regional appellation. Cebu's variant of Soup Number Five is called lansiao or lanciao and is a popular street dish. Its name 'lansiao' was adapted from Chinese descendants who speak Hokkien, of which Hokkien Chinese: 𡳞鳥; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lǎn-chiáu refers to the male's genitals.

In addition, a specialty soup doesn't require any meat on it; it can be made with fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Some examples are peanut soup, coconut soup, turtle soup, and curry soup.