Allora, we were in a restaurant, Giuseppe and I, and I was talking with our friend, the chef, about the soups on the menu. It’s cold days now, and I love soup. But I discovered in Italy, it was a bit more complicated than just soup. It seems I like... well.. here's how he described Italian soups to me:
Me: What's this one then?
Him: It’s just a broth, a brodo.
Me: Well, the brodo sounds delicious. And would be even better if it had some vegetables in it.
Him: That would be a good idea, but then it wouldn’t be a brodo anymore.
Me: No?
Him: Nope. Then it would be a minestra.
A brodo with veggies is a minestra.
And a brodo with pasta in it becomes a pastina.
Pastina is pasta inside of brodo.
Me: I see…
I’d call them all soup. Just soup.
Me: I like when my soup is full of things. More like a stew actually… Like if you took a stew and added more liquid, drop by drop, until it crosses some line of liquid-ness where it is a soup and not a stew, that’s what I like. With a nice crusty bread...
Him: Capisco, but if there is stuff like bread in the broth or the minestra, then it is zuppa.
Me: Si, soup.
Him: Nope. Zuppa.
Me: All soup. Just soup. Soup.
Me: You know what I like? Bisque, I love bisque. That has a different name too.. not soup.
Him: Hmm. What is it?
Me: It’s soup.
Him: What kind?
Me: It is quite thick, and cream-based,
Him: Oh, ok! Then it’s the passato here on the menu! Like a zuppa, but thick with cream and things in it.
Me: Si, and it is usually made with seafood things… lobster bisque per esempio. Or shrimp or crab bisque. What you do is blend it all very smooth so that…
Him: Wait , wait… If you blend it, then it is not a passato. Then it’s the vellutata. It means velvet.
Me: Vellutata. Ok, well, I love vellutata, and that's a perfect name for it. We sometimes put small pieces of bread or crackers in it...
Him: Don’t put too many. Or it will become a zuppa again.
Me: Of course. Foolish of me.
Him: The word is from inzuppare… to put things in liquid to absorb. That’s where zuppa comes from.
Me: Well cat my dog…I always thought zuppa meant soup.
Zuppa.
Zupp.
Zoop.
Soup.
And here, to clarify the subject, are some photos I found to illustrate the different types of Italian soups:
Brodo di Carne
Minestra
Pastina in Brodo
Zuppa di Pesce
Passato di Pomodoro
Vellutata di Marroni
Ti piacciono queste minestre? Quale tipo preferisci?
Do you like these soups? Which do you prefer?
Thanks to all the Italian recipe sites where I found these appetizing images.
Brodo di Carne
Minestra
Pastina in Brodo
Zuppa di Pesce
Passato di Pomodoro
Vellutata di Marroni