Souplantation Recipes Recreated

Non-regional discussions Home Cooking
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Okay my friends, I’m still very much mourning the loss of Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes because growing up Chinese in the SGV in the 90s my family didn’t really go out to eat “white people food” that often save for Souplantation and Claim Jumper for extra special occasions. We ate there a lot more often as I grew older as my parents became more assimilated. Chinese people don’t really eat salad but my grandma did there. I moved to the bay area and I still sought it out when I wanted to eat my feelings. My blueberry muffin record was 27. It was our little slice of Americana and I’m super bummed its gone forever.

Anyway I’m trying to recreate just my 4 heavy hitter favorites…
-wonton happiness dressing
-chicken noodle
-blueberry muffin
-clam chowder

wonton happiness salad dressing
I remember it being distinctly very well emulsified and goopy. There must be some sort of emulsifier in there right? Perhaps xanthan gum? If I can figure the emulsifier I’m sure I can figure out the rest as mainly a ratio of soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar. And seasoned with ginger/onion powder and maybe garlic and sesame oil

I suspect its a 1:1 vinegar to sugar that is reduced then soy sauce is added just to season and then that mixture is emulsified with sesame oil and some neutral oil.
1:1 reduction to total oil

chicken noodle soup
its really a plain chicken broth probably boosted with some chicken boullion. I made something really close to THAT specific taste by just boiling an old chicken and adding some plain chicken boullion (without added vegetable flavoring). Seasoned it until just under too salty.

noodles:
400g Giusto’s bread flour
60g whole egg
140g water
8g salt

kneaded and rested then rolled out in a pasta sheeter and cut to small noodle size.

it was pretty close I must say, though I wonder how the noodles at souplantation were able to stay small and not expand that much and also how they were able to retain some bite and toothsomeness without getting too waterlogged.

blueberry muffin
I googled a copy cat recipe and thats what I made today. The flavor is spot on but my muffin tin is not the right size to create that special muffin top crispy lip that made them so addictive.
Does anybody know what brand/size muffin tin they used?

Here’s the recipe I used
2 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
5 tsp baking powder
1 ea egg
1 cup sugar
1 2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup canola
1/2 lb blueberries

Mix wet/dry+sugar separately then together then together then blueberries and bake at 400 until crispy.

I converted everything to metric here so it can be recreated easily if you’re inclined to try:
380g flour
80g whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
20g baking powder
60g egg
180g sugar
380g buttermilk
110g oil (I used butter)
240g blueberries

clam chowder
i have not tested this yet but i speculate I can make something pretty close with a start-with-bacon clam chowder recipe, boost with some clam base and call it a day. My favorite thing to do was to mix the chicken noodle and clam chowder…soo good! Best of both worlds.

I am happy to share any insight or developments and final detailed recipe and instruction.

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One of my first jobs was at soup Plantation! I was part of the opening team in Brentwood a million years ago lol. I don’t have any recipes but i too loved the chicken noodle soup! Have to say i would be pretty surprised if there were many additives in there food. Even to mop the floors we used distilled vinegar mixed worth water.

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Did Souplantation do a lot of scratch cooking? The soup didn’t come out of a frozen tub and into the steamer to heat up?

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I loved the blueberry muffins! Those were my fav item there. Will have to give your recipe a try. And, no, not at all sure how to get the crispy edges. Do you think the small size had something to do w/ being able to get it crispy?

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As far as i recall it was mostly scratch, mostly coming from a central kitchen somewhere. No, At least when I was there it was no frozen soup. Everything was made fresh off site and brought in ready to heat and serve.

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The small cup size definitely had something to do with that iconic mushroom head shape.

I’m going to continue to revise the recipe and while the flavor was spot on, the texture was off. In the next iteration I will increase the buttermilk by 10% and see what happens.

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It could be as simple as the krusteaz muffin mix with blueberries mixed in. Just baked at a higher temperature

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Even my lazy a$$ can try that. :slight_smile: I think we might have a smallish cup muffin tin somewhere.

@dreas: did you eat 27 in one sitting???

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I am so sad that I never thought to mix the clam chowder and chicken noodle soup. Growing up, my move was to mix the green onions, bacon bits, crackers and cheese into the clam chowder. I thought I was a genius.

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Google Fu lvl:Blackbelt

It seems before Souplantation Closed they published a bunch of their recipes online. Their website does not exist but the the wayback machine remembers. right now im seeing more seasonal recipes but i’ll post anything fun I find

Chicken Pot Pie Stew

Time:

1 hour

Yield:

9 ½ cups

Ingredients

Raw chicken breast 1/2 lb
Butter 1/2 lb
Diced carrot (3/8″ pieces) 1 1/4 cup
Sliced celery (1/4″ pieces) 1 cup
Minced garlic 1 1/2 tsp
All purpose white flour 6 tbsp
Water 2 1/2 cups
Whole milk 1 1/4 cups
Whipping cream 3/4 cup
Diced red potatoes (1/2″ pieces) 2 cups
Sliced mushrooms (1/4″ pieces) 1 1/2 cups
Pearl onions 3/4 cups
Peas 1/3 cup
Chicken bouillon 4 tsp
Dried thyme 1 1/4 tsp
Kosher salt 1 1/4 tsp
White pepper 1/2 tsp
Black pepper 1/8 tsp
Chopped curly parsley 1/4 cup

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place chicken breast on metal sheet pan. Roast in oven until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Slice chicken into ¼” thick pieces and set aside.
  2. In a 4 quart pot, melt the butter. Add carrot, celery, and garlic and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes.
  3. Add white flour and stir to combine. Cook on low-medium heat for 2 minutes.
  4. Add water, milk, whipping cream, red potatoes, mushrooms, pearl onions, peas, chicken bouillon, thyme, kosher salt, white pepper, black pepper, and cooked chicken pieces. Stir to thoroughly combine. Bring to 190 degrees F and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir frequently.
  5. Fold in parsley and serve. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
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This was published in the San Diego U-T

Wild Maine Blueberry Muffins

Makes about 2 dozen muffins

1/2 pound frozen blueberries, thawed and drained

DRY MIX

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

WET MIX

1 2/3 cups buttermilk

1 cup white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup cracked eggs

1 teaspoon blueberry extract

Combine the dry-mix ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Combine the wet mix ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat wet mix to dissolve the sugar. Add the dry mix to the wet mix and combine thoroughly. Gently fold in blueberries.

Spray muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners. Scoop batter into muffin pans with a 2-ounce scoop. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

(From Souplantation)

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This was published in the OC Register

Tuna Tarragon Salad

Yield: 12 cups

1 tablespoon salt
5 cups small shell pasta
1 1/4 cups penne pasta
1 cup (3-inch pieces) spinach fettuccine pasta
2 tablespoons canola oil

For the dressing:

2 cans (6-ounces each) tuna packed in water
2 cups sweet pickle juice
1 3/4 cups mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups sweet pickle, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons dried tarragon leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Procedure:

  1. Bring 3 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil in a large pot. Add pastas and cook for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Strain pasta and run cold water over to cool. Place cooled and strained pasta in a large bowl. Toss with canola oil to prevent sticking.

  2. Place tuna in a large bowl and break into small pieces. Add pickle juice, mayonnaise, pickles, celery, sour cream, tarragon, salt and pepper, and mix to combine.

  3. Add tuna mixture to pasta, and mix thoroughly. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Season with additional salt and pepper as desired.

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F*ck, yes. Totally forgot about it, but I loved that, too.

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Yes this is the recipe I used!

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yknow I want to think that I liked it and I really wanted to like but literally every time I would try a little bit and it always tasted just short of what I wanted it to be if that makes any sense. I always got a mountain of the wonton (chicken) happiness and a teeny side of tuna tarragon.

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ohhhhh yeeeeah. theres that chicken boullion. called it!!!

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yes, 27 one sitting. granted I’m a big dude and was very athletic at the time.

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It’s not the chicken noodle though :frowning: but i bet it’s similar. I really loved that soup too, if love to make those noodles

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It seems like a great mid week lunch and something you could easily change to your taste. I’d probably use fresh tarragon for one thing! And maybe a quarter of that recipe