of the same spice you used earlier in step 4 can be a good way to boost flavor I think of the garnish as a final step to layer flavor and/or texture into the bowl Step 9: Rinse and Repeat Once you’ve got these eight basic steps down, you’ve got what it takes to start creating any number of creamy soups, combining any flavors you like I’m not promising that every single combination of vegetables and aromatics will work out, but use this guide as a blueprint and you’re well on your way to building the soup of your dreams We all dream about soup, right? BOOM GOES THE BLENDER H ere’s a scenario that happened to me just last week: I was making a batch of tomato soup for my wife (who can’t get enough of the stuff), and I’d just dumped the hot tomato mixture into the blender As I reached for the On button, a tiny voice in the back of my mind said to me, All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again Ask yourself this question: “Would an idiot do this?” If the answer is “yes,” then do not do this thing Of course, I went ahead and turned on the blender anyway The top popped off in a violent explosion, and my dog leaped behind the couch in fear as hot tomatoes splattered across the apartment with all the fury of a VEI-7 ‡ volcanic eruption This kind of stuff happens because there are some mistakes I never learn from and, more important, because of thermodynamics and the physics of vapor formation See, there are a number of factors involved in the conversion of hot water to steam Pressure is a big one As we all know, steam takes up much more space than water Because of this, if you apply enough pressure to a body of water, steam will not escape When a big batch of tomato soup is sitting in a blender, there is significant pressure on all of the soup except the stuff at the surface Steam escapes from the top alone, while the liquid below the surface sits there patiently waiting its turn Switch on the blender, though, and suddenly you create tons of turbulence A vortex is formed, the surface area of that body of liquid suddenly becomes much bigger, and steam is rapidly and violently produced Moreover, the added exposure will also heat up the air in the headspace of the blender, causing it to expand This rapid expansion causes the top of your blender to pop off and the hot tomatoes to go flying BOOM! So, how you prevent it? There are two ways: First off, make sure that there’s room for expansion in the blender The hot steam needs an escape valve ... When a big batch of tomato soup is sitting in a blender, there is significant pressure on all of the soup except the stuff at the surface Steam escapes from the top alone, while the liquid below the surface sits there patiently waiting... produced Moreover, the added exposure will also heat up the air in the headspace of the blender, causing it to expand This rapid expansion causes the top of your blender to pop off and the hot tomatoes to go flying... and turned on the blender anyway The top popped off in a violent explosion, and my dog leaped behind the couch in fear as hot tomatoes splattered across the apartment with all the fury of a VEI-7