Puréed soups are made from a dry pulse or fresh vegetables cooked in a liquid then passed through a sieve, soup machine or liquidizer. Vegetables which contain a high level of starch will thicken by themselves; those with a low level of starch will require an additional thickening agent such as potatoes, potato flour or powder or rice.
Puréed soups may be divided into two main categories:
(a) pulse vegetable based;
(b) fresh vegetable based.
Generally soups based on pulse vegetables are slightly coarser in texture than other purée soups.
Puréed soups can also form the basis of cream and velouté type soups.
Puréed soups are rarely garnished but are served with diced fried bread croûtons or toasted or dried bread sippets as an accompaniment.
Bread Sippets:
Remove the four crusts from the entire length of a loaf of bread. Cut across into very thin triangular shapes of approx. 6 mm across. Arrange them on a baking sheet taking care not to overlap them. Place in a hot cupboard or cool oven to dry out and color slightly golden on each side.
Bread sippets may also be toasted under a salamander grill but because they are thin they will easily burn. If this method is used constant attention is required.
Diced fried bread croutons (for soup):
Remove the crusts from slices of bread and slice into 1 mm dice. Shallow fry in melted butter until they are golden. Drain off the fat as soon as the croûtons are colored as they will continue to cook and color even when removed from the heat.