So I tried making soup for the first time today. I didn't follow a recipe, just made it from my own knowledge and what I remember from my mom.

Scrubbed, peeled and diced carrots and russet potatoes.
Put them in the soup pot with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, let them sweat for a few minutes on medium heat.
Added a diced onion, sweated for a couple more minutes.
Filled the pot with cool water and chicken stock.
Added a turkey drumstick (lots of meat, adds good flavour).
Brought it to a boil, then simmered for 2 hours.

It turned out pretty good, except the onions were too soft. Soggy, almost. I'm not sure if I simmered it for too long.

Protips? Recipes?

I love soup.

*ObZ

I've found that if you dont add all the meat right away, and save adding the rest of the meat till 5-10 mins before serving, you get a much better meat flavor and texture. You don't end up with bland meat that's falling apart because of that.

Also, if you have time and leftover bones, try starting with a stock made from the bones (and filtered out of course, once you have it ready). I particularly like rice in my soups. Last time I tried to make rice soup though, I added WAY too much rice and ended up with pretty much rice with chicken and a little bit of liquid. If you do add pasta or rice, be sure to do it relative to the time you're gonna be serving, so they don't get soggy.

That's all I can think of right now, but now I'm hungry

your soup would seem to be quite thin. i personally prefer thicker soups myself

pumpkin soup is easy. saute garlic and onion, add in water, add in pumpkin, carrot and celery. when theyre soft, puree them, then add creme fraiche or sour cream or curry powder

for french onion soup, slowly caramalise onions for 15 minutes, throw in vegetable stock (or any other stock), flavour with bits of ham and serve with toast

Yeah, I don't have a food processor or blender. I was hoping the potatoes would help thicken it a little. Sorta worked.

*ObZ

you can use a potato masher, or if all else fails, a fork. though the vegetables would still need a lot of the broth added to it so its pumpkin soup and not pumpkin mash

Beef jerky and 2 minute noodles are good while camping
I made a good red lentil soup the other day.
It kinda had a curry taste to it and was pureed

Oh you can use cornflower mixed with water to thicken soups
Orr you sould start with a white sauce

Just be careful with cornstarch/flour slurry, since it's prone to breaking under heat.

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"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and it annoys the pig." --Robert Heinlein

makes her own broth by boiling a whole roasted chicken (like the kind you get from supermarkets.) then she removes the chicken, strains the broth, puts the broth back into the pot and boils the vegetables. when the chicken is cooled, she removes the meat and and adds it back into the pot. she keeps it on low heat all day and in the last half hour or so adds noodles.

Crock pot baby. It's practically fool proof.

First brown the meat in a sauce pan or something so it gets all tasty. Then throw it into the crock pot with some broth, onions and various seasonings and wait. A few hours before it's done throw in your veg so it doesn't get soggy. When it's done you can throw stuff in like canned corn because it doesn't take long to heat through. The meat will be so tender you can just tear it up.