Would you be happy with soup?

September 21, 2011 8:58 AM

Would you serve this? I need a little mefihelp with food advice for an upcoming poker game.

I play in a monthly poker home game, 8-12 people. I am hosting this month and the host provides dinner and beer/wine. The meal is usually home-made, not always, usually fairly simple, not always (last month the host made roast chicken pieces and an olive pasta).

I am thinking of tortilla soup, I have a recipe I have used for years that is very good and the soup gets loaded up with diced tomatoes, avocados, shredded cheese, tortillas, fresh lime, etc.

My question is: Is soup enough? Should there be some side? If so, what sort of side goes with a hearty soup? I have played with this group for 3-4 years now but don't know them outside of the poker game, I'm a worrier and don't want any of them thinking "really, a bowl of soup?"

Maybe this question should have insecurity filter amended to it.

posted by Cosine to society & culture (24 answers total)

It's fine. Add snacks before and you are fine.
posted by TheBones at 9:02 AM on September 21, 2011

Chips and dips - there's your solids. Sounds a nice soup.
posted by fraac at 9:03 AM on September 21, 2011

It sounds great to me. If you're concerned that some people might think it's not substantial enough, why don't you ask one of them? Or you could get a loaf of hearty bread and some cheese or pâté to serve on the side. Bread is good for dipping in the soup, too.
posted by brianogilvie at 9:05 AM on September 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Corn bread is great with tortilla soup. You could make one batch with jalapenos for the "wild cards" in your crowd.
posted by argonauta at 9:07 AM on September 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yeah. Make sure there's bread. (Or bread and salad if you're feeling adventurous.)
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:07 AM on September 21, 2011

Do you eat while you're playing or is there a break? If I was expecting people to play and eat at the same time I'd go for finger foods.

If you're looking for a good side for soup then you need look no further than bread. A good savory corn bread or something really crusty could be great. Bread bowls are another good option.
posted by TooFewShoes at 9:10 AM on September 21, 2011

Tortilla soup is very hearty, and is made more robust by the addition of the garnishes that you mentioned (I would add chopped red onion, btw). It's probably enough, but if you have a very hungry bunch, guacamole and chips would be a good side, as well as queso.

Now I want tortilla soup!
posted by blurker at 9:12 AM on September 21, 2011

Are these boys playing poker? Or girls? Because my boyfriend has a group of poker friends, all male, and none of them would be sated with a bowl of soup. Soup is not substantial enough unless there are a lot of sides and appetizers. Corn bread is a great suggestion. Maybe add some fish tacos, too. Something meaty.
posted by phunniemee at 9:14 AM on September 21, 2011

I usually have finger foods that are easy to just pick up and eat whilst playing the game.

Here is my staple for poker! Hope it helps:

Guacamole and tortilla chips
Simple wraps, like chicken caesar or fajita wraps cut up in to small bites.
Mixed nuts!
Pizza cut up in to small bites [or if you have time, you can make your own using flour tortillas as a base with your own toppings and finish off under grill]
Garlic cheese bread cut up in to small bites

Depending on how fancy you want the food, party food suggestions are nice too.
posted by tokidoki at 9:23 AM on September 21, 2011

The soup sounds great, but it will be kind of hard to consume while you are playing poker.
posted by COD at 9:23 AM on September 21, 2011

You could add some heft with crackers or bread with slices of cheese and/or deli meat as an accompanyment or just set out for munchies throughout the evening. Bonus - no drips on cards or table and bread and crackers less messy to snarf down between hands.
posted by pointystick at 9:24 AM on September 21, 2011

7-layer dip or similar, or you can make cookie-sheets-worth of nachos with the goodies drizzled over.

Also, tortilla rollups. Easy to mass-produce, and easy to make in carnivore/vegetarian/spicy/not-spicy combinations if you need to.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:38 AM on September 21, 2011

Yeah, soup isn't exactly finger food, so people will have to stop the game in order to eat. I don't know how elaborate you want to be with the prep work, but maybe complement the soup with a whole bunch of different kinds of taquitos?
posted by jbickers at 9:45 AM on September 21, 2011

We eat dinner first, thanks. Cornbread is a great suggestion.
posted by Cosine at 9:51 AM on September 21, 2011

Add cornbread and some crunchy chips/salsa (the chips can get crushed into the soup or nibbled on with the salsa). I'd probably add guac and queso as well - people can keep nibbling on that through the night and it fills out the presentation.
posted by mrs. taters at 10:14 AM on September 21, 2011

+1 to adding cornbread and chips with salsa (preferably fresh, homemade). For appetizer type things, I've also found crackers, cream cheese, and an assortment of roasted hot peppers or a spicy jelly (jalapeno or habanero) to be decent finger food, especially if prepared in advance for hungry guests.

Soup sounds delicious right now, especially for a pre-game meal, but if you expect guests to eat during the game, soup is going to cramp your style. Taquitos are pretty easy to make and they're great with various dipping sauces like sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.
posted by Hylas at 10:19 AM on September 21, 2011

You could serve quesadillas, either chicken or beef or bean, as a side.
posted by CathyG at 10:31 AM on September 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm confused - every single time I've eaten tortilla soup, it's had chicken in it. Does yours not have chicken? If so, add some. Then it's a complete meal.

(I just started a batch of roasted red pepper and smoked salmon soup in my crockpot, but now I'm wishing I had made chicken tortilla soup instead. Mmmmm!)
posted by MexicanYenta at 10:34 AM on September 21, 2011

Yes, chicken, other ingredients as well.
posted by Cosine at 11:20 AM on September 21, 2011

Heya MexiYent, check your mail.
posted by Cosine at 11:32 AM on September 21, 2011

Everytime my roommate has his buddies over for poker night, there's two huge pots of delicious soup in the kitchen. He's never had any complaints (or leftovers). As long as there's bread, you should be fine.
posted by pishposh at 1:44 PM on September 21, 2011

If you find yourself in a rush and can't get to the cornbread (great suggestion), you can also put frozen corn in your soup if you just need a filler.
posted by waitangi at 3:56 PM on September 21, 2011

It's also just a nice addition anyway. :)
posted by waitangi at 4:01 PM on September 21, 2011

Yup, I do the corn too, yummy.
posted by Cosine at 6:22 PM on September 21, 2011