For Tastier Soups, Don't Skimp On The Fat

Flavor-boosting fat, which can come in the form of butter, oil, or animal fat (like schmaltz or repurposed bacon grease), can sometimes be forgotten when you're bubbling up a soup. There are just so many other components to consider, particularly if you're making broth or stock from scratch. But, just like with your steak and burgers, the suet stuff is your key not-so-secret ingredient for maximum deliciousness.

Like with salt and other seasonings, that fat enhances your other ingredients, Albert Nguyen, erstwhile chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education previously told Chowhound. "Many of the flavor compounds infuse into the fat, creating a flavoring that blends into your soup, either through emulsion or by allowing a small amount to enter each spoonful of soup," Nguyen said. "To remedy this, use enough fat to create a small, thin layer at the bottom of the pot." You'll also introduce more fat as the soup builds, depending on the type.

Some fatty soup upgrades are obvious: the schmaltz in a matzo ball, the ham hock in a split pea. But there are little ways to amp up the fat even absent these ingredients. Bones, for example, are compulsory in our soup preparations for this very purpose. We clean and freeze them from meats we've made at home, bring them back from restaurants, and occasionally pick them up from the butcher to crack and drop into all kinds of soup varieties. The marrow within, another excellent fat, will seep out into the soup, adding its own subtle, silken richness.

You'll likely use a higher fat dairy in creamier varieties, and you can give those soups even more dimension with your leftover turkey gravy, which should already be fortified with fat from the big bird. If frozen, just bring it up to room temperature before adding so as not to disturb your carefully calibrated soup temperature.