Mushroom Soup

For many home cooks, mushroom soup is an ingredient rather than a dish. Cans of cream of mushroom soup are essential for countless chicken casseroles as well as the classic green bean casserole that includes fried onions and slivered almonds. In restaurants, mushroom soup is relatively scarce. Not counting the canned variety, it usually is a fancy dish made with more exotic mushrooms. But it isn’t always upscale. We were happily surprised a while back when we stopped in Ottawa, Illinois’ Wedron Office – a friendly tavern surrounded by nothing but cornfields – and found what the waitress guaranteed was homemade cream of mushroom soup. It was not exotic, but it was a homey brew with earthy reassurance and plenty of mushrooms.