A “Souper Bowl” of a cookoff delights residents with comfort-food favorites

And the winner is . . . the mushroom soup!

“Five kinds of mushrooms, a gallon of roasted garlic puree, a gallon of caramelized onion puree, sherry, white wine, black truffle oil, and heavy cream,” said Homeland Assistant Director of Dietary Services John Scunziano, rattling off the recipe for the soup he originally created for a steakhouse. “I used black truffle, which is very subtle. White truffle is very strong.”

Homeland’s first soup cookoff was held on a chilly and rainy day, perfect for everyone’s favorite comfort food. Inside, the Homeland Main Dining Room was warm and scented with the enticing aromas of soups simmering in a line of crockpots.

The Homeland Activities Department, always looking for novel experiences for residents to enjoy, proposed the soup cookoff. Nine Homeland staffers pitched in with rich broth- or cream-based concoctions made from cherished recipes.

Representing the traditional soups were the tomato, vegetable, chicken and wild rice, chili, and beef stew. Non-traditional got to shine, too — roasted garlic cream of mushroom with black truffle oil, smoked chicken sausage tortellini with kale, chili, beef stew, and lasagna soup.

Each soup was served in mini portions, and the cook’s name was unknown, so the name of the chef wouldn’t sway voters. At the table of residents tapped to be the judges, Carl Barna, an experienced cook, and Homeland’s resident gardener, said he likes broth-based soups.

“You have to start with a good broth,” he said. “If it’s got a good broth, then it’s good to me. If you have a good broth, you can throw in anything, and it’ll be good.”

He added that the chicken noodle soup he used to make was flavorful with dark meat “and gizzards and hearts and things.”

Another judge, Joe Pulaski, said he was having difficulty deciding.

“They are delicious,” he said. “I’m pretty much a ‘whatever is in front of me’ kind of guy.”

When he was a child, his mother always made vegetable soup and potato soup.

“She always did a pretty good job cooking,” he said. “She had three boys and my big dad, so she had to be a good cook.”

Resident Bonnie Waddell, another judge, was lining up her soups according to her preferences. After tasting six soups, she had the vegetable in first place, but there were three more to taste. She had never heard of lasagna soup or truffle oil, but she was happy to give them a taste.

“I find it interesting because I’m a fan of cooking,” she said. “I’m a believer in seasonings. My mother taught me that. She was a good cook.”

Waddell honed her culinary style by working in homes, cooking, and caring for children.

“I learned what they liked, and from there, it was what I liked,” she said. “I can tell you if something is going to be good or not by the way it’s brought to me. If I have to season it, you can forget it.”

Sandra Ware, a housekeeper in Homeland’s personal care, made the popular vegetable soup.

“It’s something my auntie used to fix for us, with corn, stewed tomatoes, okra, and a little seasoning,” she said.

Activities Coordinator Diomaris Pumarol also contributed an aunt’s soup – the Dominican chicken soup traditionally served when her family gathered to mourn the loss of a loved one.

“Instead of going to a restaurant, we would go to a home, and she would make that for everybody,” she said. “That’s why it’s a comfort food. We related with being together and sharing the tradition.”

Finally, Assistant Director of Activities Emma Lengyel announced the winners, the top five of whom won kitchen goods and soup bowls. Three soups tied for third place – the chicken tortellini, vegetable, and tomato. Second place, lasagna soup. And first place, that delectable, creamy mushroom soup.

Resident Mike Ennis was thrilled to learn that non-judge attendees didn’t have to cast votes or rank the soups.

“I felt a responsibility to taste them all because so much effort went into making these,” he said. “And then I realized that the judges will pick the winners so that I can enjoy them. It took all the pressure off. I could just enjoy it for the flavor of one until the next one came. They were all so well done. They were all so flavorful.”