Fish soup facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Fish soup

New England clam chowder made with potatoes and cream
Type	Soup
Main ingredients	Fish or seafood, vegetables, liquid (stock, juice, water)

Fish soup is a yummy meal made by mixing fish or seafood with vegetables and a liquid like broth, juice, or water. When you make hot soup, you boil solid ingredients in liquid. This helps to get all the delicious flavors out, creating a tasty broth.

Soups are usually put into two main groups: clear soups and thick soups. Clear soups are light, like a simple broth or a clear consommé. Thick soups are, well, thicker! They get their thickness from different ingredients.

What Makes Soups Thick?

Thick soups can be made in a few ways:

• Bisques are often made from shellfish like crab or lobster. They are puréed (blended until smooth) and made thick with cream. You can also make bisques with puréed vegetables or fruits.
• Cream soups are thickened with a special sauce called a white sauce.
• Veloutés become thick with eggs, butter, and cream.

Other things often used to make soups thicker include rice, lentils, flour, and different grains. Many popular soups also have carrots and potatoes in them.

Soup vs. Stew: What's the Difference?

Fish soups are quite similar to fish stews. Sometimes, it's hard to tell them apart! But generally, fish soups have more liquid than stews. Think of it this way: you can usually drink soup from a cup, but a stew is often eaten with a fork because it has more solid pieces.

Popular Fish Soups Around the World

Fish soups have been enjoyed for a very long time. Some soups have big pieces of fish or vegetables, while others are mostly a smooth, flavorful liquid. Here are some examples of fish soups from different places:

Name	Image	Type	Description
Aljotta		fish	A Maltese fish soup with lots of garlic, herbs, and tomatoes. It's similar to bouillabaisse.
Balık çorbası		fish	A traditional soup from Turkish cuisine.
Bergen fish soup		fish	A creamy soup from Norway made with white fish like haddock, halibut, or cod, and various vegetables.
Bourride		fish	A French fish stew or soup made with white fish (like monkfish), cream, and lemon. It's often served with aioli.
Bouillabaisse		fish and shellfish	A famous French fish stew or soup. It's made with rock fish but doesn't have cream or lemon. It's usually served with rouille.
Cantonese seafood soup		fish	A thick seafood soup from China. It's usually smooth, whitish, and a little see-through.
Carp soup		fish	A soup made with carp fish parts, onion, and vegetables. It's a traditional part of Czech Christmas Eve dinner.
Cioppino		fish	An Italian-American fish stew with tomatoes and a mix of fish and shellfish.
Cullen skink		fish	A traditional fish soup from Scotland. It's made with smoked haddock, potatoes, onions, and cream.
Pulmay (Curanto en olla)		seafood soup	A Chilean seafood soup with molluscs (like giant mussels and clams), yellow potatoes, sausages, chicken, and smoked ribs. It's often cooked in white wine.
Dashi		chilled	A Japanese fish stock soup, often served chilled with seasonal vegetables.
Fanesca		fish	A traditional cod soup from Ecuador.
Fisherman's soup		fish	Hungarian Halászlé is a hot and spicy river fish soup with lots of hot paprika.
Fufu and Egusi soup		chunky	A traditional soup from Nigeria. It's made with vegetables, meat, fish, and balls of ground melon seeds.
Herring soup		fish	A thick soup made with barley meal and smoked herring.
Ikan kuah kuning		fish	An Indonesian dish of fish served in a yellow soup.
Lohikeitto		fish	A Finnish soup made with salmon, potatoes (and other root vegetables like rutabaga, carrots, onions), cream, and dill.
Mohinga		fish	A traditional Burmese fish soup. It's made with chickpea flour and/or crushed toasted rice, garlic, onions, lemongrass, banana tree stem, ginger, fish paste, fish sauce, and catfish in a rich broth. It's served with rice vermicelli.
Pindang		fish	An Indonesian fish soup with salty and sour-tasting spices.
Psarosoupa		fish	A Greek fish soup that uses a traditional oil-and-lemon sauce, vegetables, rice, and sea fish.
Sliced fish soup		fish	A dish from Singapore with fish, prawns, and vegetables.
Sour soup		fish	A Vietnamese dish made with rice, fish, various vegetables, and sometimes pineapple.
Ukha		fish	A Russian fish soup made from different types of fish, vegetables, dill, parsley, and black pepper.
Waterzooi		fish	A Belgian fish soup.
Stock		fish	This is the base for many fish soups and sauces. In Western cooking, it's usually made with fish bones and fish heads, plus chopped vegetables, cooked for about 30–45 minutes. In Japan, fish stock is made by frying and boiling fish for several hours to create a white, milky broth. Strong fish stock is called "fish fumet." You can also find concentrated fish stock in small cubes (pictured) called stock cubes.
Lobster bisque		bisque	A creamy soup traditionally made with lobster.
Crab bisque		bisque	A smooth, creamy soup made with crab.
Cream of Crab		bisque	A creamy soup featuring crab meat.
Lobster stew		bisque	A cream-based soup with chunks of lobster.
Shrimp bisque		bisque	A creamy, puréed soup made with shrimp.
New England clam chowder		chowder	A classic thick soup made with milk or cream, butter, potatoes, salt pork, onion, and clams.
Fluffy clam chowder version of New England clam chowder		chowder	A fluffy version of New England clam chowder. It includes pieces of steamed lobster, briefly grilled in a sherry-butter sauce, added as a topping.
Manhattan clam chowder		chowder	A type of clam chowder made with a tomato base instead of cream.
Maryland crab soup		chowder	A soup from Maryland in the U.S.A. It's made with vegetables, blue crab, and Old Bay Seasoning in a tomato base.
She-crab soup		chowder	From Charleston, South Carolina, this is a creamy soup made with blue crab meat and crab roe (eggs).

See also

In Spanish: Sopa de pescado para niños