- Adding a leftover Parmesan rind to simmering soup provides the broth a wealthy, nutty umami taste.
- The rind slowly infuses taste like tea steeping, in contrast to grated cheese that clumps with out deepening the broth.
- This trick works greatest in brothy or blended soups and avoids letting meals go to waste.
For some, fall means all issues candy and spice. Flavors like pumpkin, pecan, maple and apple come to thoughts, enhanced with these warming kitchen spices like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. But for me, when the temperature begins to drop outdoors, the one factor I look ahead to essentially the most is an enormous pot of soup simmering on the range. Savory broth, a lot of greens and crusty do-it-yourself bread for dipping—all the proper parts to kick off the season. And each time I make an enormous pot of minestrone or hen noodle, there’s one ingredient that’s an absolute should, and that’s a leftover Parmesan rind.
I adopted this trick once I was on a journey to attempt to scale back my meals waste and located myself with a number of leftover rinds. In my household, Parmesan is an absolute staple. We would place chunks of it in a rotary grater and sprinkle it on prime of our meatballs and purple gravy. It made our weekly Sunday dinners really feel like an Italian restaurant, and evidently, we went by means of Parmesan cheese quick. Unfortunately, the rinds all the time ended up within the trash.
After selecting up this Sunday dinner custom in my grownup years, I used to be sick of throwing out the rinds and puzzled if there was one other means I may use them. After all, there’s nonetheless just a little cheese on there! Could I break it off someway? Naturally, I turned to the Internet and looked for what to do with Parmesan rinds. The reply? Soup!
I gave it a go and located that including a Parmesan rind to a few of my favourite soup recipes considerably improved the flavour, and I made a decision that I might by no means once more make a brothy soup with out one. I imply, if Ina Garten can be doing it, then I needed to be onto one thing.
How Parmesan Rinds Improve Soups
I’m not kidding once I say a Parmesan rind turns the soup into liquid gold. When a soup simmers with the rind, it provides this distinctive nutty high quality that enhances the umami taste of the soup. (Umami is a meaty, wealthy and savory taste.) The broth picks up that taste because the soup simmers, and when it’s time to complete the soup earlier than serving, you merely discard the gentle leftover rind.
Using a Rind vs. Grated Cheese
Why not simply add grated Parmesan cheese? While it might seem to be the cheese will merely soften into the broth, honestly, the feel of it gained’t be the identical. Many instances that cheese will glob collectively and soften to the underside of the pot, and it gained’t create that very same taste profile {that a} rind does. Think of it like steeping tea—the water picks up the tea taste slowly because it steeps. The identical occurs right here with the rind.
Don’t have a leftover rind? Then simply grate the cheese and reserve it for sprinkling on prime of your soup. You’ll nonetheless get a few of these umami notes.
Vegetarian-Friendly Options
Keep in thoughts that common Parmesan rind is made with animal rennet, which implies that your soup will not be vegetarian for those who use the rind. However, there are some manufacturers that may use vegetable options for the rennet, so if that is one thing that issues to you and your food plan, then be sure you hunt down a Parmesan produced with utterly vegetarian merchandise.
Best Soups for Parmesan Rinds
While it is a savvy trick for soups, it doesn’t work for all soups. The greatest soups so as to add Parmesan rinds to are brothy soups. The broth can decide up taste from the rind whereas the soup simmers for an extended time frame. Does that imply creamy soups gained’t work? It actually relies upon. If your soup is thickened with butternut squash or beans which have simmered in a broth and are blended later, then sure, you possibly can nonetheless let the soup simmer together with your rind. This also can work you probably have a creamy soup that has the cream and cheese added after the simmering course of, as a result of some soups—like this Creamy Tortellini—begin with a broth and end with cream.
The Bottom Line
Soup is among the greatest one-pot dinners for fall, good for meal prepping for lunches or simple dinners all through the week, and including a Parmesan rind to your broth takes your soup to a complete new taste degree. When the soup is simmering on the range or in a gradual cooker, add the rind so the broth can collect up all that taste goodness. Then discard it earlier than serving. This trick works effectively for brothy soups; even when the recipe doesn’t name for a rind, you possibly can nonetheless embrace it!
So sure, it’s fall, the time of the 12 months that everybody is prepared for all issues pumpkin. But not me. As the well-known George Costanza as soon as stated, “I gotta focus. I’m shifting into soup mode.”
