Ingredients:
- 1 lb smoked bacon, finely chopped
- 1 medium red onion cut into ¼ in pieces
- 1 package celery, chopped into chunks
- 1 package carrots, chopped into chunks
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 cup skim milk
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 oz grated white cheddar
- 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
- ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup beer (preferably a dark Canadian), room temperature
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Bread of choice
Instructions:
- Cook the bacon in a large soup pot over medium heat until lightly browned.
- Add onions, celery, and carrots, and cook until the onion is tender.
- Sprinkle in flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Stir in milk and stock, a little at a time, blending well to ensure there are no lumps. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and whisk in cheese, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, and beer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with your favorite bread. (I usually like French or Italian bread.)
Babble:
This variation of the Mark I came about because every time I made the Mark I, we basically ended up eating a whole block of cheese in one sitting – and while our taste buds very much enjoyed that, our guts did not. Also, when I cook, I generally like to use complete packages of whatever I ingredients buy just so I don’t have to store them (i.e. forget about them and find them moldy and mutating in the back of the fridge months later).
Thus, to make a less overwhelming soup, I significantly cut the amount of cheese involved and then restored the soup’s heft with added bacon and vegetables. It’s far from a healthy soup – after all, we went from eating a whole block of cheese in one sitting to a whole pack of bacon in one sitting – but it’s certainly yummy as heck.