It’s split pea or ham and potato for me.
In my mind, soup is just a technique that’s really about the stock. This is just me suggesting that you all should adopt traditional French cooking technique.
For me, it’s saving old chicken scraps and certain veggies and then cooking them until they are mush in water. Grocery store rotisserie chicken skin, bones, and juice; carrots, onions, celery, garlic. Anything getting past it’s prime. No brassicas though. I’ll throw a t bone in there, but while really good beef broth is amazing, good beef bones cost as much as real beef.
Clam juice or shrimp/crab/lobster shells sauteed in butter with water (or the aforementioned stock…) Is also awesome.
Once you’ve got that, just put anything in it. That’s good soup.
Make sure that you put the correct amount of salt in it. If there’s no salt, stock tastes terrible.
I made chicken Marsala for the first time this year, and was so into the sauce I was like, I could just quadruple the sauce, cut up the chicken and make this a soup. I thinned it down with broth a bit, it’s still very rich (mostly cream, wine and butter) but I find it delightful.
As a lactose intolerant, that would ruin my day.
Split pea though… That’s the best poops. If you don’t understand, you’re too young.