Tortilla Soup/Aztec Soup

[Barry Popik]

TORTILLA SOUP--70,600 Google hits
SOPA DE TORTILLA--15,900 Google hits
SOPA DE TORTILLAS--1,930 Google hits
SOPA TORTILLA--386 Google hits
SOPA TORTILLAS--41 Google hits
AZTEC SOUP--1,810 Google hits
AZTECA SOUP--1,940 Google hits
SOPA AZTECA--19,700 Google hits
SOPA DE AZTECA--949 Google hits
...
As usual, OED ("We stink on food!") doesn't have "tortilla soup" or
"Aztec soup." Perhaps "tortilla soup" is being prepared for the OED
revision?
...
Robb Walsh's "The Tex-Mex Cookbook" (2004) has a recipe and two-line
intro for "tortilla soup," but "Aztec soup" is not mentioned.
...
When the temperature drops at this time of the year, Tortilla
Soup/Aztec Soup is a big seller at the Texas/Southwest Food Museum.
The school kids love to warm themselves with it. The video of Sopa
Azteca being prepared at San Antonio's El Mirador is up on the
museum's website, I believe...No, wait a minute, there is no such food
museum in Texas. Remind me to kill myself.
...
...
...
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/tortilla_soup_or_sopa_de_tortilla_aztec_soup_or_sopa_azteca/
...
Entry from December 03, 2007
Tortilla Soup or Sopa de Tortilla (Aztec Soup or Sopa Azteca)
Tortilla Soup (Sopa de Tortilla) is often called Aztec Soup (Sopa
Azteca) in Mexico. Tortilla soup is one of the most popular soups in
Texas; El Mirador in San Antonio is famous for its Sopa Azteca served
on Saturday afternoons.

Tortilla soup/Aztec soup has many variations, but is noted for the
tortillas that are included in the soup. The soup often includes
chicken stock, tomatoes, chilies, cumin, and sour cream, with a
sprinkling of cheese added. The soup is sometimes a meal in itself.


Robbie's Recipes
Tortilla Soup like Cracker Barrel's(R)
Tex-Mex soup loaded with cilantro, tomatoes, and cumin served with
chicken, tortilla strips, cheese, and avocado.

Submitted By: Gayle Freel
Serves: 10 - 12
Prep. Time: 2:00

1 bunch cilantro – stems trimmed, washed
4 cloves garlic - peeled
1 sm. onion - chopped
2 serrano peppers – tops removed
10 oz. can Ro*Tel(R) tomatoes and chilies
3 quarts (12 cups) chicken stock
8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 - 3 tsp. ground cumin
1 - 2 tsp. salt
2 Tbls. cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
approx. 20 sm. corn tortillas - cut into thin strips
vegetable oil OR peanut oil – for frying
2 cups shredded grilled OR poached chicken breast meat
1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 avocados - peeled, pitted, sliced

-In a blender or food processor, puree cilantro, garlic, onion, and
peppers with Ro*Tel; pour into a large pot.
-Add chicken stock, tomato sauce, cumin, and salt to pot and bring to
a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1
hour.
-Stir cornstarch/water mixture into pot and continue heating over low
heat, stirring occasionally.
-Deep-fry tortilla strips in small batches in 350 degree oil until
crisp. Remove to a cooling rack to drain. Place a handful of fried
tortillas into each serving bowl.
-Divide chicken into serving bowls, placing on top of tortilla strips.
-Pour soup into bowls, then sprinkle tops with cheese.
-Garnish with 2 - 3 avocado slices.

Steve's Gastronomic Home Page
Carnitas Querétaro
6516 N. Mesa St.
El Paso, TX
(915) 584-9906
(...)
Aztec Soup is Carnitas Queretaro's version of tortilla soup, with
crispy tortillas that have been made soft by floating in the soup. The
white meat chicken and avocado were good, and I liked the Mexican
style cheese even better. I thought the best feature, though, was the
flavor of the broth. This was not quite the best version of tortilla
soup I have ever eaten, but it was close.

Mexico Connect
Aztec Soup
Serves 12
Ingredients:
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
2 cups of chopped onion
4 cups of chopped tomato (pera or roma)
4 tsp. margarine
1 cup of your favorite tomato sauce
8 cups of rich chicken stock
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. sugar
24 corn tortillas cut into 3/8 strips and fried in hot oil until crisp.
1/2 pint sour cream
6 ripe avocadoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup of white crumbly fresh mexican style cheese

Preparation:
Brown garlic, onion and tomato with margarine in a stock pot. Add
tomato sauce, chicken stock, pepper, sugar and Worcestershire sauce.
Simmer for 1 hour. To assemble soup put a handful of tortilla strips
in a large open soup bowl, top with 4 or 5 thin avacado wedges,
chopped fresh onion and Mexican ranch style crumbly cheese. Ladle in
hot soup and top with a spoonful of sour cream.

Google Books
Mexico as I Saw It
by Mrs. Alec Tweedie
London: Hurst and Blackett, Limited
1901
Pg. 306:
"Sopa de Tortilla" (soup, made with the Indian corn tortilla, and flavoured).

30 July 1910, Brownsville (TX) Daily Herald, pg. 5, col. 5:
RESTAURANT.
The Grand Hotel Libertad.
Matamoros, July 31, 1910.
(...)
Tortilla Soup

Mexican Cooking
Gebhardt Chili Powder Co.
San Antonio, Texas
1911
Pg. 32:
Sopa de Migas—Tortilla Soup…

Google Books
Castelar Crèche Cook Book
by the board of directors, Castelar Crèche Home for Homeless Babies
Los Angeles, CA: Times-Mirror Printing and Binding House
1922
Pg. 280:
TORTILLA SOUP
Cut the tortillas in equal sizes, put them in hot lard, but do not fry
them. Place in a Pyrex dish a layer of tortillas, then cheese chopped
finely, then chopped uncooked marrow out of a soup bone (which has
been left 1 or 2 hours in water to be perfectly free of blood), some
parsley very finely chopped, strips of green peeled chiles and a sauce
made of tomatoes (take them out of can but without any water), salt,
pepper and mashed onions and a bit of garlic. Put layers of all of
these things and on top some cheese and marrow. Then fill the dish
about 3/4 full of bouillon and let it boil to absorb the bouillon and
remain dry.
--- Carlota L. Algara.

1 July 1934, San Antonio (TX) Express, pg. 1D, col. 2:
Among the many dishes for which tortillas are used I may mention
principally the well known enchiladas, tacos, quesa dillas,
chilaquilles, eggs country style or huevos rancheros, tortilla soup,
and others…

Google Books
Mexican Journey:
An Intimate Guide to Mexico
by Edith Mackie and Sheldon Dick
New York, NY: Dodge Publishing Company
1935
Pg. 16:
Cut in strips and dried, tortillas are made into sopa de tortilla; cut
up and not dried, but fried with chile, they become chilaquiles

8 November 1948, New York (NY) Herald-Tribune, pg. 18, col. 6:
WORLDLY WISE SOUPS—Today in their fifth-floor food shop Abraham &
Straus, Brooklyn, will introduce the well known Twin Gabel soups made
from recipes collected around the world by Zachary Gable (sic), former
Brooklyn restaurant owner. He and Abe Gruber put out a lione of eight
soups that represent a potpourri of the nations. There is Aztec bean
soup made with black beans in a way discovered in a Mexican hut.
("Aztec bean soup" is probably not the same as "Aztec soup"—ed.)

19 June 1964, New York (NY) Times, "Dining at the Fair: Mexican
Focolare and African Tree Houses Offer Bright Settings" by Craig
Claiborne, pg. 14:
One of the best-known of Mexican soups is made with crumbled tortillas
in a rich broth and at the Focolare the tortilla soup ($1.20) is good
but not exceptional. The broth seems a trifle mild when compared with
those of some restaurants in Mexico and it seems to lack the
characteristic flavor of chile.

7 November 1965, Dallas (TX) Morning News, section D, pg. 7:
There is also a gorgeous restaurant called Senor Pico which dispenses
tamales, rellenos, Aztec soup, and hot crab sandwiches.
(San Francisco, CA—ed.)

30 November 1966, Oakland (CA) Tribune, Pg. 24A, col. 3 ad:
First course: a peppy Mexican style soup. Campbell's Sopa de Tortilla
(vegetable-beef bouillon with toasted tortillas).

14 September 1969, Tri-City Herald (Pasco, WA), pg. 24, cols. 1-4:
A Tortilla Sopa (soup) can be made quickly with frozen tortillas and
shelf-handy cans of chicken broth. This recipe is actually more a
casserole than a soup, and makes an excellent accompaniment to broiled
or roasted meat.
(...)
TORTILLA SOPA
1 package (9 ounces) frozen tortillas in cooking pouch
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1 can (13 3/4 fluid ounces) chicken broth
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 bay leaf
3 cups grated cheddar cheese

1. Heat tortillas in cooking pouch according to directions. Remove
from the package and cut into thin strips. Heat oil in skillet and
saute tortilla strips until light brown.
2. Remove tortillas from oil and drain well. Saute onion in oil; add
tomato sauce, chicken broth, parsley flakes, chili powder, bay leaf
and tortilla strips. Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed.
3. Serve immediately. Top individual servings with cheese.
Makes 6-8 servings.

13 August 1970, Dallas (TX) Morning News, "TT's World Tour With Frozen
Foods," section EE, pg. 2:
Tom Thumb offers a three-course dinner complete with a sopa de
tortilla, a zesty soup, and pudin de manzana, a tasty apple-vanilla
pudding.

23 November 1972, Deer Park (TX) Progress, "Comida Mejicana" by El
Comilon, pg. 8A, cols. 5-6:
Sopa de Tortilla, tortilla soup.

As in all national dishes, there are many variations of the original
which consisted of chicken or meat broth with crisp tortilla pieces
floating in it. The "Cocinero" (chef) at the Montejo does one of the
best I have found and here is the way I have watched him do it in his
kitchen:

Cut 6 or 8 stale tortillas in narrow strips, less than 1/2 inch wide,
and fry them in hot oil until lightly brown. Drain and keep warm.

Heat about a half gallon of chicken stock (or meat stock or canned
consomme) with a finely chopped onion, carrot wheels, zucchini pieces
and bite size celery sticks. Simmer until the vegetables are done but
crisp. A few minutes before it is done, add half a cup of tomato
puree.

Place the tortilla strips in the bottoms of the serving bowls, pour
the soup over them and garnish with chopped, fresh cilantro
(coriander). If you cannot find the fresh cilantro use fresh parsley
and a touch of grated lemon rind...do not use dry coriander because
the flavor is quite different. Serve grated cheese to add at the
table.


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