The second International Soup I tried was Mexican Red Pork Soup with Hominy. I must admit that this recipe scared me a little. For one thing I had never cooked with dried ancho chiles. For starts I didn’t know if I would like it, so I decided to halve the recipe.

Fortunately for me a Hispanic grocery store recently opened up in our neighborhood were I was able to buy some of the ingredients: dried ancho chiles and hominy.

For the adobo, I followed the recipe and socked the four chili peppers in boiling water for 20 minutes.

My mistake was I didn’t de-seed them. So in the food processor I had to run it until it chopped the seeds into bits. I’m not sure if leaving them in effected the taste. It probably added more fiber to the soup. Also, instead of adding 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds I used 1/4 ground cumin. For dried Mexican oregano, I just used dried oregano I had growing in my garden.

For the soup, I didn’t use cheesecloth and twine. I just put the ingredients in the soup and fished it out later. Now the recipe calls for 4 cups of canned hominy (I halved the recipe). Instead I used a 29 oz can of hominy. I didn’t divide it and puree it. I just drained the can and poured it in the pot. The recipe called for 3 quarts of water (again I halved it). I added 2 1/2 quarts but to me that was to much. It tasted watery. I had to boil it for an hour to get it to reduce. So I would suggest using 2 quarts.

The recipe suggested adding chili powder to the soup when serving. I added 1 tablespoon to the soup to give it more flavor. The flavor of the soup basically tasted like paprika. We also added more chili powder to the bowl when severed.

It was a big hit with the family. I would like to taste the original to see if I came close.

The Hot Brown sandwich originated at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. During our food prepping for our sheltering-in-place due to the Corona-virus I bought a bunch of sliced ham from Krogers. So I thought I would make Hot Browns one night. Well the original Hot Brown doesn’t have ham, but there are a bunch of recipes online that include it. It also uses Turkey Breast that we didn’t have.

So this recipe started with a thick slice of homemade white bread (bread machine). Topped with three slices of Kroger ham. Then because I didn’t have turkey I slice one chicken breast (which I had purchased at Sam’s Club) horizontally into four thin pieces. I cooked those then added them on top of the ham. Also, we didn’t have any fresh tomato so we opened a can of petite tomatoes and I put a couple of Tablespoons on top of the chicken.

I made a cheese sauce of butter, 2% milk, flour, and shredded Parmesan cheese from a recipe in the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. Then poured it over the whole thing. Finally, adding a slice of bacon. It was very good.

Because of the Corona-virus, I have not been able to get to the store and buy the special ingredients for my second soup, which is Mexican Red Pork Soup with Hominy.  Therefore, I decided to post some food we are having while sheltering-in-place.

We made a really good Sausage Pizza one night.  I wanted to make the dough in our bread machine but it took about 4 hours.  So I used the same recipe but just kneaded it with a food processor. 

For the sauce, I used Heinz Spaghetti sauce.  I had never tried their sauce. When we were stocking up on food at Sam’s Club I spotted a 6 lbs can. I figured this was my the opportunity to justify buys such a giant can. It is really good. Maybe the best store bought spaghetti sauce I have ever tried. We also bought a 5 lbs bag of Stella shredded mozzarella cheese at Sam’s.

I have a friend at work that gets really great breakfast sausage from a gas station in Bardstown, KY. He gave me 3 lbs for Christmas so to my surprise I found a pound in the freezer. It the hot kind and is really greasy.

Okay, the first soup was an easy one, Chicken Noodle Soup. Like I said in my precious post, my wife makes a great Chicken Noodle Soup so I got her to help me. We followed the recipe pretty close with a few exceptions.

We used 3 cloves of garlic. They suggest between 1 and 3.

For the broth we used a 32 oz carton of chicken broth. We decided we needed more stock so we added 2 cups of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes.

We used a rotisserie chicken (breast and thigh meat) as the recipe suggested in the notes.

We used half of a 16 oz bag of yoke free wide egg noodles for the pasta. Yoke free is all they had in the store. The recipe suggested cooking the pasta separately. In the notes they suggested adding the pasta to the bowls individually when serving. We tried that but I think it tastes better if you cook the pasta with the soup. Just my opinion.

It turned out to be really good chicken noodle soup. We ate ours with double grill cheese sandwiches.

“Soup is Good Food“ — Campbell’s Soup advertising slogan.

I really believe in their philosophy. I grew up on Campbell’s Tomato and Chicken Noodle soup, and my Mom’s homemade soups and chili. The first meal my wife served me when we were dating was chicken noodle soup from a recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. So when I saw an article called “From Ajiaco to Za’atar: Around the World in 30 Soups” on theKitchn web site I came up with the idea for this blog. So I hope you will take a trip with me around the world as I try these recipes and write about the experience.

I may also post about interesting food items I find along the way.  I hope you enjoy!