Nana's Best Soup

This is a very simple soup that my grandmother used to make. The only difference between how I make it and how she made it is that she used a pressure cooker to cook the beef. I'm too afraid to use it since my mother and my volcanology professor have both told me that pressure cookers can explode. Her soup was much better and yours could be too if you want to risk cooking the beef with a pressure cooker.

The recipe is so simple and yet so delicious and addicting. My friends and my boyfriend always ask me to make it all the time! Also, it's fun to hear people say "Hey! Can you make some Nana Soup!?"

I know this sounds strange, but the best thing to drink while you're eating this soup is 2% milk. Somehow the milk and the soup really compliment each other.

Also, the trick to this soup is adding lots of pepper when you're ready to eat it. I don't know how this magic works - it just works. LOTS OF BLACK PEPPER!

Well, I hope your enjoy this recipe. Please let me know if you make it and you love it or even if something went wrong and it turned out funny.

P.S. - the adorable little boy in the background is my pug baby, Romper!

Step 1 Ingredients

1 tbsp. of butter
1 lb. of stew beef chopped into ~1cm chunks
1 medium or large onion
1 (46 fl oz) can of tomato juice
1/2 (46 fl oz) can of water
<1lb of elbow macaroni
salt
pepper

It's important to note that you are buying tomato juice and not tomatoe sauce or soup. I generally find it on the bottom shelf in the juice section of any grocery store no matter what state I'm in. I have always thought this to be a bit of an odd place for it.

Comments

[maltesergr8]

Soup looks very tasty, will definitely be trying this after the holidays!

I have a couple of questions --
1) Do you drain off the fat from browning the meat?
2) Is the onion left whole or is it chopped up? Guessing you remove it when the soup is done cooking, before saving the leftovers?

Thanks!

[Caulerpa]

I don't drain off the fat from the meat and you're right I do remove the whole onion after it's done cooking.

[rorcutt]

This sounds like a great comfort food soup, and I can't wait to try making it! Thanks for sharing!

My grandmother always used a pressure cooker for a lot of her cooking (she's the one who taught me how to cook). When I got married, she bought us a new model that has a safety lock that won't allow the lid to be removed until the pressure inside has gone down. It works great and I don't have to worry about a kitchen explosion!

[Caulerpa]

Let me know when you try it out :] I would love to know if it's just a family thing or something that everyone will enjoy.

[lemonie]

Don't be afraid of a pressure-cooker that is in good condition and manufactured in the last 30 years. They speed-up cooking time and use less energy.

I've been cooking Trinidadian things, and I've noticed that black pepper is an important flavour-base for curries - how much do you use, and when do you add it?

For the browning, I'd really brown it - you've got too little heat in step 2 - too much "juice", not enough "brown"

L

[Boost]

Modern pressure cookers are safe and have double safety valves. Pressure cookers really makes the meat tender.

I will try this recipe in out cooker.

[Caulerpa]

Oh! Thank you for letting me know! I'll have to finally try it too then!