I love Icelandic hotdogs. I love their snap, their strange brown mustard, and their absurd addictive quality. I wanted to make a soup that not only incorporated hotdogs, but became almost a garnish to them, or vice-versa. The Icelandic version of a Bloody Mary–actually, this soup is good with a couple shots of vodka tossed in.
You may not know this, but Icelandic ketchup is made with apples. You heard me correctly. I wanted to write an article just on the ketchup used at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, the most famous hotdog stand in Iceland, but I was told that their ketchup guy doesn’t talk to the press. Somewhere in Reykjavík there is a reclusive, ketchup genius and I will discover his secret recipe. One day.
For now, I’ve made a tomato soup that incorporates apples. The soup compliments the condiments. It’s a philosophical enigma: is it a hotdog with soup, soup with a hotdog, or hotdog soup? I think it’s hotdog soup. It’s something restorative, magical, but incomplete without all the components.
Also, for those of you at Airwaves with week, this can be a life saver. Those of you not at Airwaves can make this to remind you of all the fun you’re missing.
Enjoy.
Pylsusúpa: Icelandic Hotdog Soup
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
15 Fresh Tomatoes
4 Medium Yellow Onion
1 Kgs Carrots
1 Kgs Celery
6 Cans whole tomatoes
500 ml of 18% Cream
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Handfuls fresh Basil
2 Large Granny Smith Apples
3 Tablespoons Butter, and enough Vegetable Bouillon to handle three litres of water.
Weiners, Buns, Icelandic Ketchup, Sinnep, Remoulade and Cronions for garnish.
Directions:
1. Melt three tablespoons of butter on medium heat in the pot. Roughly chop the onions and add them to the pot to soften them up. (We are going to blend this later, so don’t worry too much about the chopping).
2. Dice the carrots and celery and add to the pot.
3. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften, but still have form.
4. Slice up the apples and add them to the pot.
5. Tear up the handfuls of basil and peel three cloves of garlic and add them to the pot.
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6. Dice up the fresh tomatoes and open the canned tomatoes and add everything to the pot.
7. Add about 2 litres of water, the vegetable bouillon and boil the pot for about 30 minutes. Blend with a hand blender until smooth or transfer into a blender and back into the pot to simmer. Add the cream. Season well with salt and pepper. Get ready to rock out with this hangover-killing soup.
8. Serve into a nice bowl and sprinkle a good layer of cronions. Criss cross 4 lines of ketchup with 4 lines of sinnep and blob some remoulade around (artistically). Sprinkle a little more cronions on, for aroma and crunch.
Remember to share this recipe with your friends and loved ones.
Also, send us your recipes. Let’s get through this winter together.
One Soup Tuesday at a time.
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WTF is a Soup Tuesday?
As the sun yet again makes her draining descent towards winter solstice, it has become clear: fall has arrived. The darkness in store will likely bring a lot of you down, but don’t fret or give up—there are a number of methods for fighting off the winter blues: Reading, lýsi, sex, drugs, alcohol, and—of course—soup. Now, doing most of those things would be mostly inappropriate, if not illegal, at the Reykjavík Grapevine’s offices (if it were one of those “appropriate” offices)—except for maybe the lýsi and reading. And of course, the soup.
Lýsi is kinda disgusting and reading is for nerds, so to combat the coming full-scale attack of the SADs, we decided to started a new tradition to help us make it through the coming winter: SOUP TUESDAYS. Yes! Soup Tuesdays! Every Tuesday, we’ll be making a different soup in our shitty little office, document the process and then show you how to make one for yourself.
You can also send us your best recipes (on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or email), with a photo, so we can share soup knowledge throughout the world. Together we can make it through the bad weather.
Solace and Solidarity in Soup.
Happy Soup Tuesday.
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