For whatever reason, I never had tomato soup as a kid. When we did have soup it was invariably chicken noodle, and almost always was Campbell’s condensed soup in a can. We had a lot of canned goods in our household, it was cheaper and lasted way longer. My aversion to vegetables stems from this but that’s a whole different story. To get back on track – I don’t recall *ever* eating tomato soup growing up. I don’t know why, I do remember seeing it in the cupboard, but the classic tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese combo I just never had. That may say more about my upbringing than I’d like to admit but whatever, it just never happened. Probably timing or something.
Anyway, fast forward many years and we find your humble narrator working for a social services non-profit firm. They would hold fundraisers a few times a year, usually at a location where the upper classes hung out, such as an exclusive country club or fancy hotel & restaurant. As I was part of the staff I was on hand to make sure everything went smoothly, but it also meant I got to partake of some seriously delicious food. That’s a polite term for “way too expensive for me to afford on my own.” One year the “casino night” festivities were preceded by a several-course meal, the first of which was a tomato bisque.
Now, at the time, I didn’t know what “bisque” meant (it had been a few years since my last French class) but I didn’t want to appear an uneducated barbarian by actually asking anyone, so I just waited for it to be served so I could see what it was. My initial reaction: Oh! A soup! That’s when I recalled never having eaten tomato soup, but being in my try-anything-once 20’s, I naturally had to give this one at least a couple of spoonfuls. Turns out I nearly ended up licking the bowl! It was AMAZING; I could hardly believe any kind of soup could be that good. Rich, flavorful, with a depth of deliciousness that I *still* remember to this day!
The rest of the meal (and night) is kind of a blur, I was working after all, but I’ve never forgotten that tomato bisque. Fast forward a few more years to a winter eve when I was in the mood for some comfort food, and the grocery store had a sale on soup, so I included a can of tomato in my basket with my chicken-n-rice and steak-n-potato. I know….I know exactly what you’re thinking…..you’re going to try to recreate a gourmet chef’s tomato bisque with a canned soup?!?! Yeah, well….I obviously wasn’t thinking I’d be able to recreate it, but I at least wanted to give a poor person’s version a try.
Yeah. That didn’t go well. After only a few spoonfuls and copious amounts of salt and pepper, it got tossed and I’ve never attempted it again. A homemade version might fare better, but I’ve never been much of a dinner chef. Baker of sweets, sure! Three course meals? Forget it. I’ve gotten really good at making single-course meals, like macaroni and cheese, or a bowl of chili. Which reminds me…it’s dinner time.