Soup Quotes

“If you don't explain it all to me, I might strangle somebody." Of course, Raphael might like that...”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Burns

“That bowl of soup—it was dearer than freedom, dearer than life itself, past, present, and future.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

“One bachelor is an irritation. Ten thousand bachelors are a war.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender in Exile

“Slotted spoons don't hold much soup...”
― Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods

“...You won't even see what is put right on the table before you. Men. If it was raining soup you'd be out there with a fork.”
― Robin Hobb, Golden Fool

“Writing is a lot like making soup. My subconscious cooks the idea, but I have to sit down at the computer to pour it out.”
― Robin Wells

“Anyone who tells a lie has not pure heart, and cannot make good soup.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven

“Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake.”
― Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear

“Yeah. I'm the fly in the soup. I don't like it any better than you do. Flies don't like being swamped in soup, especially when it's hot.”
― Rex Stout, Champagne for One

“Curiosity is a good thing, like onion soup. But too much onion soup makes your breath smell terrible. And too much curiosity can make your whole body smell terrible, if it causes you to be dead. ”
― Michael Reisman, Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper

“There must be some kind of internal time distortion effect in here, because when I look at myself in the little mirror above my sink, what I see is my father's face, my face turning into his. I am beginning to feel how the man looked, especially how he looked on those nights he came home so tired he couldn't even make it through dinner without nodding off, sitting there with his bowl of soup cooling in front of him, a rich pork-and-winter-melon-saturated broth that, moment by moment, was losing - or giving up - its tiny quantum of heat into the vast average temperature of the universe.”
― Charles Yu, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

“Mrs. Porter was from Virginia and had a smooth-as-cat-fur way of speaking. She taught me how to say, “Fiddle-Dee-Dee,” just like Scarlett O’Hara and she made her split-pea soup with bacon and even let me try on her lipstick sometimes as she teased up my hair in the same sixties style she wore, “Ala Pricilla Presley,” whoever that was.”
― Shannon Celebi, 1:32 P.M.

“You can't sprinkle pepper in your neighbor’s soup and expect your own to stay sweet.”
― Dipti Dhakul, Quote: +/-

“Soup is cuisine's kindest course. It breathes reassurance; it steams consolation; after a weary day it promotes sociability, as the five o'clock cup of tea or the cocktail hour. Every nation, every forgotten corner of the world has its special soup recipe.”
― Louis Pullig De Gouy, The Soup Book: Over 700 Recipes

“I managed to get her to sip two spoonfuls. I think that is more than enough, don’t you, Mother? Poor Primrose is already sick, she does not have to suffer through soup. Particularly this concoction of grey wateriness Miss Brook is so proud of. It looks like old laundry water and smells like socks. Besides, Primrose keeps dozing off. What was I supposed to do? Drown her in it?”
― Marcel M. du Plessis, The Doom of Balar

“The sakura shrimp fishing season has just started in Yui, so that's the first catch you're eating. If you believe what they say, that means you'll live a long and healthy life."
Nagare removed the lid from the bowl, releasing a cloud of steam. Kana leaned over, closed her eyes, and took a deep sniff of the clear broth.
"It smells wonderful!"
"The only solid ingredient is diced tofu. Plus a garnish of pepper tree leaves."
"Just tofu? But this aroma--- it's so complex."
"The stock is from quick-grilled sweetfish bones. I had plenty of them left over from all that sushi."
"So that's what I'm picking up," replied Kana, sniffing the steam again. "Who'd have thought those tiny little bones could add so much flavor?”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

“Here's the soup. Nothing new, but if you're going to have broth in summer, it has to be botan-hamo: lightly boiled hamo eel, named for the way it's cut into the shape of a peony to remove the bones. As for this ayu rice, the only ingredient is in the name. The fish are deboned, so all you need to do is sprinkle some of these chopped mitsuba leaves on top. The pickles on the side are eggplant and myoga ginger. Now, you tuck in, and I'll bring you a cup of hojicha.”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

“He detected a faint hint of tonkatsu in the broth, but the base was definitely chicken rather than pig bones. The broth wasn't quite transparent, but it was a great deal clearer than the turbid liquid that usually accompanied ramen these days. It seemed quite possible there was some kind of fish stock in there too. A garlicky, gingery aroma rose from the bowl.
The noodles were the thin, straight type, and cooked slightly on the firm side. On top of them lay two slices of roast pork and another two of kamaboko fish cake. These were accompanied by bean sprouts, pickled bamboo shoots, and negi onion.”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

“You quickly simmer the hamaguri clams in sake, mirin, and soy sauce, then serve them on the rice. At Fusa Sushi, the resulting leftover liquid was boiled down and used as a glaze for the conger eel and hamaguri clam sushi. But because Kazusa-meshi was so popular, there was still plenty of the stuff left over. Rather than waste it, the owner started taking it over to his brother next door--- who put it in his ten-don sauce. The owner of Fusa Sushi kindly told me the recipe."
"So that sauce I just ate was flavored with... hamaguri clams?" asked Keiko, gazing steadily at the photo.
"That's right. Now, the soup at Tenfusa was hamaguri broth. I made the fish ball the way he told me too, using a mix of hamaguri and white-fleshed fish. That's right--- the first time you visited, I happened to be serving a sake-simmered hamaguri stock for the soup. Of course, in that soup, the fish balls were made from sardines--- which your hometown of Ishinomaki is famous for. That, combined with the clam-flavored broth, explains why you found the flavor so nostalgic. You've quite the discerning palate, clearly!”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

“Whenever you see someone reading a Japanese newspaper. You just see some lady just reading a Japanese newspaper. You need to put a crown on her head, you need to... to lick her feet, you need to make her some soup. She is doing something that is a human miracle.”
― John McWhorter, Language Families of the World

“Minutes later she returns from the open kitchen at the end of the restaurant with two brown plates of steamed jjin mandu on a paper napkin, the fat pockets of dough stuffed to bursting with shrimp and chives, and a plate of untidy crisp pork dumplings that I would be happy to live on for the rest of my life. There is a tiny plastic dish of soy and another of orange kimchi and a deep black bowl of soup with shredded omelette and spring onions floating to the surface. I pour the sticky soy into a little white dipping dish and add a few drops of the dark vinegar. My dumplings, doughy, spicy, scorching-hot and as comforting as an old teddy bear, are gone in a heartbeat.”
― Nigel Slater, A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts

“Oden is many things: a stew of fishcakes and radish, boiled eggs and root vegetables or bits of meat that need a long, slow cooking. Winter food that is both cheap and nourishing, though little more. But to me, right now, it is the most comforting thing that has ever passed my lips.”
― Nigel Slater, A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts

“Japanese water is soft and its low mineral composition is better for making soup.
Miso soup sets me up for the day as surely as a bowl of porridge, though I have been known to take both. In Kanagawa or Kyoto, Okinawa or Sapporo, that soup may be made with dashi-- a delicate broth of smoked dried fish and seaweed-- and miso, a light (shiro) or red (aka) paste of fermented soybeans. Shiro miso has the color of thick heather honey or fudge, is lightly salty and makes for easy drinking. Aka miso is red-brown, more savory and umami-rich than the white, and makes, to my mind at least, a more soulful, almost melancholy broth.
Sometimes there are shreds of seaweed or a few tiny clams waiting at the bottom of your bowl, like treasure. Soup-- clear, aromatic and lightly salty-- is a gentle way to begin the day. I am lulled, sip by slow sip, back into the rhythm of life. I start my day in good heart.”
― Nigel Slater, A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts

“Oh! There's a straw!" she exclaimed excitedly, pushing her face toward the straw and straight into the bush of blooming oregano, inhaling its fresh aroma as she sucked up a creamy warm liquid. It was a soup, but it took her a few minutes to figure out exactly what kind of soup--- it was sweet and buttery and soft. And then she placed it.
"Potato!" she cried, her eyes darting across the table to Eamon.
Eamon's eyes sparkled in return, and he submerged his face into the tiny herb garden. "Point proven, once again," he added, after coming up for air.
She tried to sip it slowly, savoring the sweet flavor and velvety texture, but it was too delicious.”
― Emily Arden Wells, Eat Post Like

“Kinoshita brought over several trays, placing one in front of each of them. Each had soup, a main dish, and--- orange-colored rice?
"What is this?"
"It's carrot rice! With unlimited second helpings!"
Sure enough, the rice was packed full of so many carrots, that's all you could see.
Otoha started with the soup, which was a potage with roughly mashed potatoes. Not very showy, yet the wonderful flavor spread throughout her. She let out a deep sigh. Not the type of sigh she'd let out in front of Mr. Tamura, but one of deep satisfaction nonetheless.
She next turned to the carrot rice.
"Wow... this is delicious," she said as she took a big bite. The sweetness of carrots, the aroma of soy sauce--- what a gentle, delicious flavor the rice had.”
― Hika Harada, Dinner at the Night Library

“Today's main dish is cooked sardines," Kinoshita explained, "and the side dish is okara, soybean pulp, cooked using the broth from cooking these sardines. This combination appeared several times in her books. It was probably something she herself enjoyed. Plus there's a side dish of kenchinjiru, root vegetable soup. This also appears a few times in her essays and novels. The rice is yukari rice, rice mixed with dried pickled plums and red shiso flakes."
"I've been meaning to ask you, Mr. Kinoshita, but were you a fan of Seiko Tanabe's works before you came here? She's the only author where you serve so many different dishes."
"No, truthfully I'd never heard of her before. The owner gave me the book The Many Flavors of Seiko Tanabe, which came out while the author was still alive, and I planned to make a few of the dishes listed there. In that book they gave the sources for the recipes, and I went ahead and read those too. She wrote a lot about cooking and I really got into it.”
― Hika Harada, Dinner at the Night Library

“In a donburi bowl, on top of the rice, were four or five little fish, and a scattering of sliced scallions. Accompanying this was soup in lacquered bowls.
"And this would be...?"
"Try it first."
Otoha picked up the donburi bowl and put one of the small fish and rice into her mouth.
"It's delicious, Mr. Kinoshita. It looks so very simple, but it's amazing."
"I just warmed up canned oil sardines in a frying pan, added some soy sauce, and put it and the sardine oil over rice. That's it. The scallions I bought at a convenience store on the way her 'cause it was the only place open. But it works, doesn't it?"
"It does. I could eat a ton of this rice."
"It's a recipe in an essay by the novelist Yoko Mori. The soup is an egg soup with dried wakame seaweed and eggs.”
― Hika Harada, Dinner at the Night Library

“For the soup”
― (FTS)Lamia The Evil

“Today's rice is mixed with hamo eel," said Nagare, returning with a Shigaraki-ware clay pot and a small, lidded bowl.
"Interesting. I've had hamo as sushi plenty of times, but never with regular rice."
"Well, it's certainly not as fancy as sushi," replied Nagare, setting the pot down on a woven straw mat. "Anyone could whip it up at home."
"And what's the soup?" asked Nobuo, removing the lid from the small bowl.
"I chopped up the skin from the hamo and made it into dumplings. Add a bit of this yuzu peel too, if you like."
Nagare appeared to have deliberately used one of Nobuo's creations to serve the soup. A tempting fragrance was rising from the jet-black lacquered bowl.
"Regular green tea all right for you?" asked Koishi, showing him a Kyo-ware teapot.
"Oh, yes. In fact, at home I like to have a cup of bo-cha."
"Bo-cha?" repeated Koishi, pausing with her teapot at the ready.
"A specialty of Kaga, back in Ishikawa. It's a sort of roasted green tea--- like hojicha, basically, but made using the stems rather than the leaves. It's all about the fragrance."
"Nothing like it after a good meal, is there?" Koishi poured the green tea into a tall, narrow cup, releasing a smoky aroma.
"This is just a small portion for now," said Nagare, placing a bowl of rice in front of Nobuo. "But there's plenty in the pot, so just tell me if you'd like more."
Nobuo's eyes widened. "This is the... hamo rice?"
"Almost looks like plain white rice, doesn't it? I broke up the flesh from some grilled hamo and mixed it into the freshly cooked rice, and shredded perilla for seasoning. Really ties the flavors together. And if you're wanting to pour that tea over your rice and eat it chazuke-style, I'd recommend adding some of these toppings: wasabi, nori seaweed, and crumbled rice crackers." Nagare set the wooden spatula he'd used to serve the rice on the lid of the clay pot.
"I didn't realize the hamo flesh would be this white without the skin," said Nobuo, reaching for his chopsticks. "It's practically gleaming!"
Just as Nagare had said, it looked like little more than regular white rice. But as he raised a clump of it toward his mouth, the potent smell of hamo reached his nose first. The rice was clearly packed with the eel's flesh. Meanwhile, its skin had been used to make dumplings for the soup. This determination not to let any ingredient go to waste seemed typical of Nagare's style.”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Menu of Happiness

“He appeared a moment later bearing a bowl of rice topped with eel.
"Thought I'd grill some soy-marinated hamo eel, rather than the usual unagi. Steamed it too, Tokyo-style, so the bones should be nice and soft. This soup is made from the liver--- add a dash of ginger juice if you feel like it. As for the eel, some of this ground sansho pepper should pair with it nicely.”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Menu of Happiness