Dinner Tonight

I'm having a go at trying to make my mother's much beloved Vegetable Soup. My family has nicely (and not so nicely) told me for the last 23 years how I've fallen short in achieving Memaw's level of Vegetable Soup perfection. More than once, after a mug of soup has been tasted, loaded glances have been shot across the table. Mine says, "Well, is it?". (Meaning: is it as good as mom's?). And NEVER, not even once, has Scott's glance said, "Yes, it is."

Her soup is the standard bearer. He has said, "It's good.", and "Almost, but not quite.", but never has he said, "It's as good as your mom's." Well, I'm shooting to knock that old woman off her throne. Make her a washed-up has-been. I'm gunning for you Memaw.

I now have her recipe. I've watched her make it from scratch twice in my kitchen. I have made 5.2 million phone calls to her to clarify details. Russets or waxy potatoes or does it matter? 12 to 15 small potatoes doesn't help me much---do you know about how many cups that usually yields? Peeled or un-peeled carrots? What are you going to use now that your home canned tomatoes are depleted and it's several months to garden ripe tomatoes again? What size pot do you use---was that a 8, 10 or 12 quart pot? Covered or uncovered? How long? What temperature?

Slow and low is the key? Gotcha.

I'll keep you posted, and it's looking good so far...

ETA: 

Scott's Verdict: 23 years. You finally did it. It tastes like Memaw's.

William's Verdict: It's good and it's kinda like Memaw's.

Aaron's Verdict: He tasted it and then and went and warmed up the leftovers from Memaw's batch from the weekend.

You win some, you lose some, and some get called due to rain.