Soup

5 viral, validated soup recipes — each tested by a named editor in a real kitchen.

• French · 90 min · Easy

  Zuppa di cipolle gratinata

  Deeply caramelized onions, dark beef stock, Gruyère melted over a toasted baguette crouton. Sixty minutes mostly hands-off.

• Vietnamese · 270 min · Medium

  Phở bò — zuppa vietnamita di noodle al manzo

  Star anise, cinnamon, charred ginger and onion, beef bones simmered for 4 hours. Thin rice noodles. Paper-thin raw eye round that cooks in the ladled-over broth. Hanoi version — restrained, herb-forward, no hoisin.

• Greek · 55 min · Medium

  Avgolemono — zuppa greca di pollo, riso e limone

  Stock thickened by eggs and lemon into a velvety, faintly tangy broth, with shreds of poached chicken and tender rice. The cure for grey weather, hangovers, and grief.

• Turkish · 40 min · Easy

  Mercimek çorbası — zuppa turca di lenticchie rosse

  The soup on every Turkish table, breakfast to dinner. Red lentils simmered soft with onion and carrot, blitzed silky, finished with a sizzle of pul biber butter and a hard squeeze of lemon.

• Ukrainian · 120 min · Medium

  Borscht — zuppa di barbabietola e cavolo

  Deep ruby, sweet-sour and savory, with tender beef, beets, cabbage, and potato. Finished with a swirl of sour cream and a shower of dill. The hearty bowl that defines Ukrainian and Eastern European home cooking.