What makes our wild rice with ham soup so special? It’s no wonder I get asked this question regularly – it’s our number one selling soup!
History
This soup recipe originated in the early 80s in the St. Paul Byerly’s deli. It was originally produced in small batches and packaged in mason jars. Lunds also made a wild rice soup, albeit a slightly different recipe with white and wild rice, and chicken.
A few years after Lunds and Byerly’s merged, the company consolidated our wild rice soups and the Byerly’s wild rice soup became standard in our delis.
How we make it
This thick, home-style soup is chef crafted and produced by our team of expert soup kettle cooks. It’s made in batches considered small compared to large industrial soup manufacturers, which allows us to develop the character, nuances and depth of flavor that can only be achieved by craft style production methods.
Of course all great soups come down to the ingredients. This soup is a meal in a bowl! It’s rich and decadent, chockfull of wild rice, chicken stock, vegetables, ham, spices and almonds and, of course, lest we not forget, heavenly butter and half and half.
Using this treasure trove of great ingredients, we employ our chef crafted preparation instructions:
- Boil the rice to a perfect state so when you heat the soup at home, it’s just the right consistency
- Cook a roux – that’s right, butter and flour, just like in a small restaurant kitchen
- Sauté the vegetables and finish everything off with the half and half, ham and almonds
We taste every batch and test for the viscosity (thickness) and flavor characteristics to guarantee our customers will enjoy our soup each and every time they have a bowl.
The best part about this soup is after we’ve finished, it tastes like home. Your grandma’s famous wild rice soup may have a strong competitor (sorry grandma). Enjoy our take on a classic Minnesota favorite!
Home cooking tips
When making wild rice soup at home, determine whether or not you want cream or broth based, vegetable or meat. Then for the most part it is relatively similar to how we create our soup.
Sauté your aromatic vegetables and spices in some fat, then add your broth or cream or a combo of both, meat if desired and finally the wild rice. Simmer the soup long enough to develop the flavor and break the rice kernels to the desired texture (I recommend half way to retain some of the texture). If you cook the rice too long and completely break the rice kernel, it will get mushy and absorb too much liquid.
If you’re looking for more ways to use leftover ham, be sure to check out this blog.