To me a soup is a meal and I make soups and chili every week. Yesterday my neighbor graced me with a container of a delightful Indian soup she made yesterday, what a taste treat. She did veggie version but one can use a meat base too.

https://thewanderlustkitchen.com/indian-mulligatawny-soup/

One thing I am fond of doing. It always seems like most people buy the cheapest cut of meat they can find, and make their soup from that.

I like to upgrade a little, get a couple real sirloins, or similar, grill those like a steak, and then cut that up and throw in into the soup pot.

What I really enjoy is the look on people's faces when they first taste it, not expecting the steak.

They're like "man, you should sell this stuff"...but it's so expensive to make that way that you could never get people to pay a price you could make money at.

You could cut up the meat and not pre cook it, let it cook in the soup...comes out a lot more tender. My mother used to cut up steak not cooked and cook it in her spaghetti sauce, Talk about a delicious sauce.

If I followed your suggestion, then I'd be lacking the "fire charred" quality to the meat, which makes as big diff in my book.

You have to realize that my recipe and methods are not just something that I bungled my way into. But rather are a result of processes that I have refined over years. (fwiw)

Plus, trust me, when I make a soup like this, I start with a 10 quart pot completely full, and reduce it to 8 quarts over time so the end product is not tough..

FWIW: I've cut way back on red meats in the last probably 10+ yrs. I use more turkey as my choice and for making my chili.

And then there is this:

https://www.palomarhealth.org/media-center/news-story?&newstitle=is+charring+your+meat+dangerous%3F&newsdate=07-09-2021

I anticipated you would make a pitch for a red meat substitute. And I suppose I should sprinkle grape nuts on top?

I usually throw in an entire stick of butter for the last hour of simmering. LOL, my arteries get so clogged that I can hear my own heartbeat after the second bowl. squish-squish-squish

I like turkey, but most of the "healthful substitutions" that I see popular, just don't appeal to me. Sort of like low fat cheese...might as well be eating a candle.

Hey GJ, I grew up on red meats, and mom did chicken too but lots of info in the last couple decades on red meats and colon issues and for me I believe my digestive system was and can be a lot slower with red meats, and I loved those prime ribs at my old famous Santa Monica Restaurant. And you want to sprinkle grape nuts, go ahead won't do any harm. Since I know I was not getting enough fiber I've found sprinkling oat bran in some of my soups and other foods, helps that issue.

And at least you are not throwing in a stick of margarine aka oleo....

Now to my morning soup breakfast.

Our bodies and cars have the same thing in common, their parts get old.

I make Taco Soup pretty often. I use red kidney beans, chili beans, black beans, mild or hot rotel tomatoes (depends on which you like), also I add a extra can of diced tomatoes, whole corn, (or Mexicorn if you can find it), 1/2 package of Taco seasoning, a little bit of chopped onions & green peppers and a pound of hamburger meat browned in a skillet. I put it all in my crockpot and slow cook it all day or overnight. It makes a hearty meal. I also cook a skillet of cornbread to go with it.

I'm pretty good with a can opener....

I make Taco Soup pretty often. I use red kidney beans, chili beans, black beans, mild or hot rotel tomatoes (depends on which you like), also I add a extra can of diced tomatoes, whole corn, (or Mexicorn if you can find it), 1/2 package of Taco seasoning, a little bit of chopped onions & green peppers and a pound of hamburger meat browned in a skillet. I put it all in my crockpot and slow cook it all day or overnight. It makes a hearty meal. I also cook a skillet of cornbread to go with it.

Sounds delish, I buy a bean combo and use that and I get all the above and it's Bean Trio and I would use the ground turkey and not even brown it, just throw in and cook. I've owned crockpots, but got rid of them, just do a soup in a large enough pot. To most of my soups I open 3 cayenne capsules and get the Spice I like. I use a huge base of chopped cabbage and chopped onions. Throw in a couple handfuls of frozen broccoli....and what else I have around. I use can of tomato sauce. We can do so much with soups.