Beer Cheese Soup

It was kind of a surprise to me when I realized how much I care about tradition. As a rebellious teenager (is there any other kind?) I saw myself as completely unconventional, someone who wanted to break with the past completely. But lurking under those attempts to figure out who I might be was the real me: the one who appreciates routine and sameness, the one who thrives on rules and order. The one who relies on the careful acting out of family traditions, and of personal traditions, year after year, in order to maintain the continuity that makes me feel safe and protected in what can be a fairly chaotic world.

One of those traditions is one I’ve written about here before: Every Christmas Eve, for as long as I can remember, my family has gathered to eat beer cheese soup. There are other key components to this tradition: the oyster soup that my Dad prefers, the beef stew that my Aunt Penny brings every year, and the tiny summer sausage sandwiches that accompany whichever soup you decide (or all three, as is more often the case). But for me, the beer cheese soup has always been the centerpiece. Over the years, the recipe has changed slightly, but the presence of the soup never does. And the soup held such a sacred place in my mind that I would not deign to make it any other time of year.

I still love the tradition, but I may be relaxing a little bit in my rules around how it’s enacted, because I made this soup this week for Sean and myself. I told myself that I wanted to experiment a bit, and get a little soup practice in (because despite the fact that we’ve been making it for 30 years, it can be a tricky recipe, and we’ve had a few mishaps on Christmas Eves past). I told myself that I wanted to make this so I could share it with my readers, and hopefully encourage some of you to try it this holiday season. But really, I think I just wanted the soup.

When I was a kid, the soup was made with Velveeta and Budweiser. From my recollections, it was a very delicious soup. But the first time I made the soup for my friends, when I was in college, before we all went home for the holidays, I couldn’t bring myself to buy Velveeta or Budweiser. I was a snob, see. So I made the soup with cheddar cheese, and probably with a Red Hook ESB or a Mirror Pond or a Sierra Nevada, which were the beers we most frequently drank in college. And I thought it was even more delicious. When I went home that year, I introduced my changes to our family recipe. But as it turns out, Velveeta has the magical property of being very easy to cook with. Real cheese can be much trickier. It requires more careful whisking, closer attention, a little more time. That year’s soup was one of our mishaps.

In the years since, my brothers and I have experimented in various ways with the soup. Some experiments worked out better than others, but we’ve largely figured out the tricks required to make this soup successful every time. And this year, I knew I wanted to share what we’ve learned with you. So without further ado, the famous (at least among us) Saufley/Krier Beer Cheese Soup recipe.

Christmas Eve Beer Cheese Soup
This soup is not difficult or complex, but it does require the cook to pay attention, and take her time. Add ingredients slowly, don’t cook too fast, and whisk whisk whisk. You’ll be just fine.

• 3 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/2 large green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth to make this vegetarian, but be sure it’s a very good broth)
• a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce
• 16 ounces of cheese (I like to use a mix of medium and sharp cheddar)
• 6-9 ounces of room temperature beer
• salt to taste

Chop the celery, carrots, onion, and bell peppers into equal 1/4 inch pieces. Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium-low heat. Once it’s completely melted and has stopped foaming, add the onion to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften, then add the celery. A few minutes later, stir in the carrots. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another few minutes, then stir in the green pepper. What you want is for the vegetables to begin to soften, and the butter to start to clarify.

After cooking the vegetables for about 10 minutes, whisk in the flour. Add the flour two tablespoons at a time, whisking thoroughly between each addition; you’re building a roux. Cook for a few minutes until the roux is golden brown, and all the flour is whisked in. Add the dry mustard and whisk in completely. Now add the chicken broth, in two separate additions. Whisk while you stir it in; the liquid should be fairly thick. Add a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce, and add a pinch of salt if it needs it. Let the soup come to a simmer, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Next, whisk in the cheese. You want to add the cheese incrementally, a small handful at a time, whisking furiously to ensure the cheese is completely melted into the soup and doesn’t clump up. The soup will thicken, which is ok, because it will thin again once you add the beer. Whisk in all the cheese, a bit at a time, then continue to whisk gently for another few minutes to let it cook a bit.

Now, stir in the beer. This will make the soup foam up in a very fun way. Just continue to cook over medium-low heat, until the foam mostly subsides. Taste and add salt if needed, and serve right away.

This soup definitely wants to be served with some crusty bread to dip into it. The flavors are rich and complex, and it’s surprisingly hearty. Well, maybe not so surprisingly considering how much cheese and butter are involved here.

This is a great, and unexpected, addition to the holiday table, but I’m starting to learn that it really deserves to be eaten all year round.