Alamo Cafe Tortilla Soup

Burn-It

6:48p, 12/24/20

I think I've gotten really close to making Alamo Cafe's tortilla soup. Might be a bit spicier, but very close in taste & texture.

I puree' d almost everything, then added chicken stock, chicken & simmered for a few hours before adding a small amount of heavy cream. The ingredients for the puree include

2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes, w/green chilis
1 4 oz can whole green chili's
Handful of fresh cilantro, stems removed
Steeped 2 ancho & 4 guajillo (stems/seeds removed)
1 chopped yellow onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tub Knorr homestyle chicken stock
1 cup chicken stock
2-1/2 juiced limes
6 tsp ground comino
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp black pepper

After puree is complete (~2 minutes in blender), combine with 5 cups chicken stock. Heat on medium until starts to simmer.

Add 2-1/2 to 3# shredded rotisserie chicken breast from the HEB. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, longer if you have time. Add a little heavy cream if you want a little thicker consistency.

Serve with sliced advocados, shredded Jack cheese, tortilla strips & dob of sour cream if desired. I pair this with a small beef fajita & boom, your done.

Family devoured it, went back for 2nds & 3rds.

AKA 13-0

Ulrich

7:13p, 12/24/20

Every time I eat tortilla soup I end up with cheese entangled in my beard.

Burn-It

7:49p, 12/24/20

In reply to Ulrich

There's an easy way to avoid that ...

AKA 13-0

FIDO*98*

8:20p, 12/24/20

Made tortilla soup for the family yesterday as well. Always a holiday favorite along side of good Tamales. I make the soup base and serve everything in a line buffet style so everyone can make their own bowl.

I prefer to use fresh ingredients, but, one suggestion I'd make for yours is to used Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes and add Hatch 505 green chiles separately. You'd be able to control the heat more precisely and since Rotel tomatoes are ass you'd end up with a better finished product.

Burn-It

8:49p, 12/24/20

In reply to FIDO*98*

I'll have to look for those brands. I used Red Gold diced tomatoes and Hatch whole green chili's. Agree Rotel sucks compared to other alternatives available at the HEB.

AKA 13-0

doctorAg13

12:36p, 12/27/20

Love that soup. Always made it a point to eat there every time we traveled to SA.

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SW AG80

7:34p, 12/27/20

TTT

MichaelJ

10:14p, 12/27/20

So I've never had the soup in the restaurant. But I made the above tonight. Big hit with the fam.

Curious - how much is a "little bit" of cream. I did somewhere probably between a 1/4 cup and a 1/2 cup.

I think next time as a thickener I might try masa harina - thoughts?

bam02

7:28a, 12/29/20

Need some help on this. I ordered the ingredients and bought the only tub of Knorr chicken stock I could find on HEB curbside. I think it was too large. My wife made this yesterday and it came out waaay too salty. I can tell we will like the recipe, but how should I go about salvaging this batch? How can I dilute and counter some of the saltiness?

bam02

8:15a, 12/29/20

MichaelJ

9:57a, 12/29/20

In reply to bam02

bam02 said:
Need some help on this. I ordered the ingredients and bought the only tub of Knorr chicken stock I could find on HEB curbside. I think it was too large. My wife made this yesterday and it came out waaay too salty. I can tell we will like the recipe, but how should I go about salvaging this batch? How can I dilute and counter some of the saltiness?

So I took tub to mean one cube - I used a tablespoon of better than bouillon in its place

Burn-It

10:30a, 12/29/20

In reply to bam02

For reference, this is the chicken stock I typically use. There are lower sodium options available, including boiling your own chicken without adding salt.

AKA 13-0

bam02

11:09a, 12/29/20

In reply to Burn-It

Do you suggest making and/or using a low sodium chicken stock to salvage this?

schmendeler

12:30p, 12/29/20

In reply to bam02

bam02 said:
Do you suggest making and/or using a low sodium chicken stock to salvage this?

there's no way to un-salt something. you can add water to make it less salty, but you're diluting all the other flavors.

you could drain off the liquid and then try to work your way back with an un-salted stock, but that's only going to help a bit, likely. it will make it edible, but probably won't be great.

probably just going to have to chalk it up as an "L" and move on.

bam02

12:56p, 12/29/20

In reply to schmendeler

schmendeler said:
bam02 said:
Do you suggest making and/or using a low sodium chicken stock to salvage this?
there's no way to un-salt something. you can add water to make it less salty, but you're diluting all the other flavors.

you could drain off the liquid and then try to work your way back with an un-salted stock, but that's only going to help a bit, likely. it will make it edible, but probably won't be great.

probably just going to have to chalk it up as an "L" and move on.

Ok thanks. Yeah probably a loss. Lesson learned.. Trying is the first step towards failure.

schmendeler

12:59p, 12/29/20

In reply to bam02

that's a good attitude. there's a very good chance you probably won't make that same mistake again.

MichaelJ

1:37p, 12/29/20

In reply to schmendeler

schmendeler said:
bam02 said:
Do you suggest making and/or using a low sodium chicken stock to salvage this?
there's no way to un-salt something. you can add water to make it less salty, but you're diluting all the other flavors.

you could drain off the liquid and then try to work your way back with an un-salted stock, but that's only going to help a bit, likely. it will make it edible, but probably won't be great.

probably just going to have to chalk it up as an "L" and move on.

If you strained out the meat and blended in masa harina - it would change the flavor (probably in a good way) but should lessen the salt

fta09

8:48a, 12/30/20

An important lesson in cooking. You can always add more salt, but you can't take it away!

When I make my own stock, I do not salt it. If I am not using my own, I buy the Kitchen Basics unsalted stock so that I can control the level of salt in the final dish.

rononeill

11:53a, 12/31/20

Reminds me of the classic: what's the difference between a pregnant woman and a light bulb?

Panama Red

12:49p, 12/31/20

1 cup stock? That right?

MichaelJ

1:43p, 12/31/20

In reply to Panama Red

Panama Red said:
1 cup stock? That right?

In the slurry

ag88man

4:38p, 12/31/20

Just double checking before starting

Does this recipe require 1 cup of stock + 1 tub of stock concentrate in the slurry +5 more cups of chicken stock later?

MichaelJ

4:39p, 12/31/20

Require is a stretch. But yes

I used a tablespoon of better than bouillon chicken base and it came out just fine

ag88man

4:54p, 12/31/20

In reply to MichaelJ

Thanks

army79

8:56a, 1/1/21

The old school trick to solve the "too salty" issue is to add some diced potatoes and let them soak up the salt while simmering

B-1 83

10:42a, 1/1/21

Amazing the variations in "tortilla soup". One of my favorites.

bam02

4:08a, 1/2/21

In reply to army79

army79 said:
The old school trick to solve the "too salty" issue is to add some diced potatoes and let them soak up the salt while simmering

We did this and it helped quite a bit.

Matsui

7:50a, 1/2/21

ag88man

8:49p, 1/2/21

Excellent Recipe.

agcrock2005

9:42a, 1/5/21

Made a batch using this recipe as the base and it is delicious. Family has torn it up two nights in a row. Thanks for sharing. Never in my wildest dreams did I think about putting whole bunch of veggies in the blender then cooking down but it worked. EDIT: I added corn and black beans just because I have two little kids and it's easy way to make them eat veggies.

JRizzle

10:19a, 1/5/21

I too made the recipe. I used fire roasted tomatoes and then added some charred poblanos. It was incredible. Also added some hominy.

Thanks for recipe!

B-1 83

7:52p, 1/5/21

Made this Sunday. Added some fresh roasted corn (~1 cup). OUTSTANDING.

cadetjay02

4:12p, 1/10/21

I just made this and made some substitutions. Market Street didn't have any fresh ancho or guajillo chilis so I think I put too much ancho powder and added in a 4oz can of jalapeos in the pure definitely added a kick.
It was a little too spicy for the wife so we toned it down with a full cup of heavy cream and another cup of broth.
Texture and flavor was great, but next time I'll make the trip down to Central Market for the proper ingredients and probably add some beans and corn.

MichaelJ

4:32p, 1/10/21

In reply to cadetjay02

cadetjay02 said:
I just made this and made some substitutions. Market Street didn't have any fresh ancho or guajillo chilis so I think I put too much ancho powder and added in a 4oz can of jalapeos in the pure definitely added a kick.
It was a little too spicy for the wife so we toned it down with a full cup of heavy cream and another cup of broth.
Texture and flavor was great, but next time I'll make the trip down to Central Market for the proper ingredients and probably add some beans and corn.

I just want to make sure you're aware that the "fresh" ancho and guajillo chiles are in fact dried/dehydrated

aglaes

11:15p, 1/13/21

Going to try this tomorrow.

Update - made it. Very tomato-y. Kind of like a spicy tomato soup. I've probably never had this at the Alamo Cafe, but it is different from what I typically think of when I think of Tortilla Soup.

It was good, but just not going to be a regular thing. Not sure I would even try it again. If I do, I definitely do half of what the recipe calls for - just me and the wife these days.