Culinary Advisor
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Cream of Mushroom Soup with Sherry
Created by Chef Thomas
Field mushrooms browned in butter, simmered with thyme and good stock, then finished with a splash of dry sherry that turns a quiet bowl of soup into something you'll want to write down.
October rain on the window. The kitchen smells of browned butter and mushrooms and thyme. This is the soup I make when the evenings draw in and the market stalls shift from summer's brightness to autumn's browns and greys. A crate of field mushrooms, still smelling of earth and damp. That's where it starts.
Mushroom soup, done well, is one of the more useful things you can make in under an hour. But the sherry is the thing. Without it, you have a good bowl of soup. With it, you have something that hums, something with a warm, nutty depth that makes the mushrooms taste more like themselves. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, and in this one the sherry is doing most of the talking.
I don't blend it smooth. Some do, and that's fine, but I like the texture of it, the occasional piece of mushroom catching on the spoon, reminding you that this came from somewhere real. A torn bit of bread on the side. A warm plate. There are few better feelings than putting a bowl of this in front of someone on a cold evening and watching their shoulders drop half an inch.
I wrote it down in the notebook years ago: mushrooms, sherry, thyme, Tuesday, rain. It still holds.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary AdvisorIngredients
mixed mushrooms
Quantity
500g
field, chestnut, and a few dried porcini if you have them, roughly torn or sliced
unsalted butter
Quantity
40g
olive oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
sliced thinly
fresh thyme
Quantity
a few sprigs
chicken or vegetable stock
Quantity
750ml
dry sherry
Quantity
100ml
Fino or Amontillado
double cream
Quantity
150ml
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
small handful
roughly chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mixed mushroomsfield, chestnut, and a few dried porcini if you have them, roughly torn or sliced | 500g |
| unsalted butter | 40g |
| olive oil | 1 tablespoon |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| garlicsliced thinly | 2 cloves |
| fresh thyme | a few sprigs |
| chicken or vegetable stock | 750ml |
| dry sherryFino or Amontillado | 100ml |
| double cream | 150ml |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)roughly chopped | small handful |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan or casserole
- •Stick blender
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Cook the mushrooms hard
Set a wide, heavy pan over a high heat. Add the butter and the oil together. When the butter foams and the foam starts to subside, add the mushrooms in a single layer, or as close to it as your pan allows. Do not stir them. Leave them alone. You want proper colour, a deep golden brown that smells of the woods and toast. This takes four or five minutes per side. If you crowd the pan, the mushrooms will stew instead of caramelise, and the difference is everything. Work in batches if you need to. Set the browned mushrooms aside.
Tear the mushrooms by hand rather than slicing them. Torn edges catch the heat and crisp better than clean cuts. It's a small thing, but it matters in a soup this simple. - 2
Soften the onion and garlic
Turn the heat down to medium. In the same pan, with the buttery mushroom residue still there, add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Let it soften for six or seven minutes, stirring now and again, until it's translucent and sweet. Add the garlic and the thyme sprigs. Cook for another minute, just until the garlic loses its rawness and the thyme starts to scent the pan.
- 3
Add the sherry
Pour in the sherry. It will sizzle and steam and smell wonderful. Let it bubble for a minute or two until it has reduced by about half and the sharp alcohol smell has gone, leaving behind something warm and nutty. This is the moment the soup stops being ordinary. Don't skip it. Don't substitute it. The sherry is what makes this worth making.
Use a sherry you'd be happy to drink. Fino is drier and more delicate; Amontillado has a deeper, nuttier warmth. Either works. Cooking sherry from the back of the cupboard does not. - 4
Simmer with stock
Return the mushrooms to the pan and pour in the stock. Bring to a gentle simmer and let it cook, lid slightly ajar, for fifteen to twenty minutes. The kitchen will start to smell like something you'd want to come home to. If you're using dried porcini, they'll have softened completely by now, adding a quiet depth that fresh mushrooms alone can't reach.
- 5
Blend and finish
Fish out the thyme stalks. Blend roughly, leaving some texture. You want this somewhere between smooth and chunky: enough body to feel substantial on the spoon, enough silk from the blending to feel like comfort. Return to a low heat, stir in the cream, and warm through gently. Season with salt and black pepper. Taste it. Then taste it again. Ladle into warm bowls and scatter a little parsley over the top if you have it. Serve with bread that can take a dunking.
Chef Tips
- •The mushrooms need a hot pan and your patience. If you crowd them or stir too soon, they'll release their water and steam rather than colour. Give them space and resist the urge to fiddle. The caramelisation is where most of the flavour lives.
- •A handful of dried porcini, soaked in warm water for twenty minutes, adds a depth to the soup that fresh mushrooms alone won't give you. Use the soaking liquid too, strained through a piece of kitchen paper to catch the grit. It's concentrated mushroom stock and it costs almost nothing.
- •This reheats beautifully, which makes it a good thing to have in the fridge when the week gets away from you. It thickens as it sits. Add a splash of stock when reheating and adjust the seasoning. Soup always needs more salt on the second day.
- •A glass of the same sherry you used in the cooking, served alongside, is one of the quieter pleasures of autumn entertaining. The flavours meet in the middle and make sense of each other.
Advance Preparation
- •The soup can be made a day ahead and refrigerated before adding the cream. Reheat gently and stir in the cream just before serving. The flavour improves overnight as the mushrooms and sherry settle into each other.
- •Freezes well for up to two months without the cream. Defrost overnight in the fridge and finish with cream when reheating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 375g)
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