Soup Essay
Haiti is what you call the poorest country ever since the earthquake happened in 2010 which was very devasting in
my opinion because most of my family is there. Even as a devastating
country it has the best combinations of food which is high growing today. Was
there ever food you guys know a group of people eat for the whole first week
every new year. Even when it’s been a cold day people tend to look as these
foods this soup for closure. There’s a lot of things that go in this bouyon
Haitian beef stew which is more culturally precise then you think it is. The
beef stew is typically cooked when the temperature drops or whenever you feel
under the water.
Me myself I’ve been drinking this
soup ever since I been out the womb of my mother’s belly which is odd to say
nevertheless but its so true. Who ever usually cooks this huge dish whether its
my mom or grandma I tend to help them the whole way through. This soup dish
takes an hour in half for it to be served which might seem like a long time but
making a dish that huge and that precise is good timing. There’s a lot of
ingredients that goes into this soup but let’s start off with the typical
ingredients which are vegetable oil and pre-prepped Haitian pepper and sauce.
Then there’s lime, onions, garlic, salt and cloves which keep the soup taste
sustainable. Then there’s food ingredients that goes into this soup which is
carrots, beef, celery, plantains and spinach.
Without
a doubt this ingredient are what makes the soup stand out and make taste the
way it does. People tend to take the soup as a onetime thing you drink when you
are sick or need some hot flavory substance in your system to cool your body
down. Us as a Haitian community we take that and expands it by putting a lot of
variety of vegetables and chicken and make it as a main dish of food to eat. We
tend to make it in huge pots for it to last a couple days and it will still be
good to eat. Another great thing is that you can eat this for breakfast lunch
and supper or what you guys call dinner.
According to google the name bouyon
is mainly came from a Latin word bouilli which means boil. Which goas back to
why I say it takes so long to make because the vegetables and meat or even
seafood has to sit in there and has to be boiled in the soup. You guys may be
surprised when I said seafood but do not be because this soup can be made with
seafood as well. The main seafood we put in the soup is crab but the way we put
it in the soup is crab but the way we put it in the soup is by removing the
interior of the shell and boil it for a few hot steam water and cut the crab in
half with any utensils you have either a knife or a fork a prefer a knife to.
My favorite piece or the best thing
about this beef soup in my opinion is the boy. The boy is basically the
dumplings (boy) in there. Ever since I was younger my mom and grandma always
knew whenever they serve me my soup with no dumplings is no soup I will look at
the soup with no dumpling is no soup I will look at the soup totally different
like its not good if you don’t have a lot in there. The way you basically make
the dumpling is by using flour and water it’s as simple as that and add salt
you know and shape it into a dumpling it’s as simple as that.
According to
CarribeanGreenliving.com this is how you properly make the beef soup the Haitian
way. “Step one you use the lime juice and put it on the side and put it under
rinsing water. You will have to clean the meat with lime and rinse it with
water and pat dry and put it in a bowl and add parsley, salt, ground black
pepper, garlic, scallions, thyme, and lime juice. Let the pot sit out for bat
least an hour or two overnight and boil the meat before you do anything and
make sure it’s with its own juice. Then you add water until meat is all the way
cooked fully cooked once its fully cooked, prepare the dumplings.
One thing it is best with either
spoon or with your own hands to form the dumpling and put it on the side. Step
3 when we use the crabs, clean the crab and remove the shell and cut the crab
in half and make sure it’s in the center. Season it with seafood and spice but
if you do not like it too salty use or regular spice. Step 4 use a large stock
pot and put the heat at medium then add oil, onions and green peppers and make
sure you try them for about two to three minutes. Now make sure you add the spinach,
chayote, carrots, tomatoes and parsnip and fry all veggies for four to five minutes.
Then. Add eight cups of water and then cover to pot to let veggies marinate for
about seven to eight minutes. After the fact add the meat and the remaining
ingredients, add the dumplings and cover it and let the pot boil until all
ingredients including dumplings are fully cooked about twenty-five to thirty
minutes. Add crabs and cook it for about ten to fifteen and for special spices
add garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. If mixture if to thick add water
and serve it hot it tastes so much better in my opinion always hot.
Now if you are wondering where I buy
all these vegetables and meat and spices well, I got all the answers. You can
buy all these ingredients all these ingredients and the meats even the seafood
at any supermarket local or any Publix around where you live at, but I
recommend the supermarket because you will find all in one. Now this is probably
the saddest thing about making this soup is that going to cost a good amount of
money to get all these things you need to make it. To get everything you need
it will cost you around 300 dollars or more it depends on how much people you
are serving for more then when ever my mom or grandma makes this they all serve
them in big pots so it can last for a couple of days.
Now if you were wondering how it
served in a bowl a glass bowl at that because the soup is more than likely
always hot if it’s could you can drink it in an regular plastic bowl paper
plate and more than likely napkins to. The utensils they use to eat it is quiet
severally they use a spoon and a fork but more than likely a spoon. Most people
like to use both to eat the and the soup me but me personally I only use the
spoon and eat the other stuff by hand. I promise you after your first try you
will go for seconds it never fails believe that. Now look unfortunately soup is
not a typical favorite dish to eat in Haiti. Everyone’s favorite is rice and
chicken favorite.
You guys probably think back like
then why you are talking so dearly about it that’s so good and your
recommending everyone to eat it. So, if you guys are looking for a food that
everyone eat or say is their favorite food chicken and rice that I eat on the
daily basis. Now that’s the basic old new generation favorites or they would
say pizza or fried chicken and ribs. To be very precise from a cultural point
of view this is my soup is a dish that shows you what Haiti is all about. We
not only make soup just regular soup we make soup with a variety of things
inside like yams, dumplings, plantains, potatoes, and crab and it has flavor
what more can you not ask for in a soup. If you’re the type of person who loves
vegetables then you can add carrots, broccoli, corn or any other vegetable you
desire.
I say this to say this is the type
of food I love people love the basic typical plain food like rice, spaghetti
and fish all that one dish food with one topping. For me I like things with a
lot variety of stuff to choose from. This food describes me so much because I
feel like it describes me as an all-around person who love trying new things
and will take the extra notch to have it you know. So, I advise you guys on
your free time to take this recipe and my thoughts inconsideration and make
this recipe you won’t regret it.
"File:Soup Joumou.jpg"by Aliceba is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
