Pork Vegetable Soup Tutorial

On Sunday I made Asian Spiced Pork. The recipe had called for Pork Tenderloin but I didn't have that in my freezer.  What I did have were bone in pork chops, so I pulled them out.  I decided the recipe was better suited for boneless chops so I cut away all the bones and trimmings and created boneless chops for my dinner.  I put the  bones and trimmings into a container in my fridge.

Today I decided I better use them before they went bad so I have decided to make some Pork Vegetable Soup.  This will allow me to use up some of my veggies before they go bad also.

 

So I took the scraps and bones from 8 pork chops

but you could also use some country style ribs.

 

 

Placed them in my stockpot and then opened the refrigerator to see what I could find.

I found some parsley, thyme, oregano, some baby carrots, the tops from a head of celeriac and the trimmings from an onion.

  I rinsed all these and threw them in the stock pot with the pork.

  Covered it all with cold water, added salt and pepper and brought it all to a boil.

  Once it started to boil, I turned the heat to low, partly covered the top and simmered for an hour or so.

 

 

Remove the solids from the broth and then remove the pork from the vegetables.

Discard the vegetables or if you have livestock as I do, give it to them.

 

 

I line a fine mesh sieve with cheesecloth and place it over my 8 cup measuring bowl.

 

 

Measure out 8 cups of broth and place this in the refrigerator to cool.  I often leave it overnight.

You can discard remaining broth or strain, cool, defat and freeze it for another time.

I strain the extra and leave it in the fridge to put on the dog's food at dinner time.

My dogs are very spoiled, they always get broth, gravy or leftovers on their food.

Not the baby though she has to wait until she is a year old and only eating once a day.

 

 

 

Once the meat has cooled enough to handle.  Trim away all  bones and gristle.

 

 

This left me with about a cup of meat for my soup.

 

 

After a few hours I pulled the broth out of the refrigerator.

The fat is all nicely congealed at the top for easy removal with a slotted spoon.

This leaves a nice clear fat free broth for your soup.

 

 

My next step is to go into the fridge and see what vegetables are lurking.

I found a half head of cabbage left from the Asian Slaw on Sunday.

Some mushrooms, half an onion, some peppers, the bottom half of the celeriac, some broccoli and some diced butternut squash left from Monday's Manicotti. 

You can use whatever vegetables you like or have on hand.

You will need 5-8 cups of vegetables depending on what you use.

Cabbage shrinks like crazy so if you use that you will have 8 cups of veggies.

 

 

Put it all in the broth and add 2 cans of  diced tomatoes with their juice.

I know it does not look like you have enough liquid but trust me, the vegetables will shrink.

Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.

 

 

Once the vegetables are tender, add the meat and warm through.

Taste for flavor and season with salt and pepper if needed.

 

Your soup is now ready to serve. Mine is slated for dinner on Monday Night. I know I said I was concerned about my meat and some of my vegetables going bad but now that it is all cooked it will keep fine in the refrigerator until then. If you want you can cool and freeze it at this point to take out on a day when you don't have time to cook.

 

Pork Vegetable Soup

 

8 c. pork broth

1 c. diced pork

5 c. assorted vegetables of your choice

3 c. chopped cabbage

2 14oz.cans tomatoes

 

Place broth and vegetables in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hr or until vegetables are tender.  Add pork and heat through.  Taste for flavor and season with salt and pepper.  Print Recipe