Photo: Michael Murtaugh

By Haley Jo Lewis

I’ve been threatening for over a year now to have a soup party. And I think this fall, it needs to finally become a reality. Friends of mine, heed this warning: You will be invited over to have some soup. But also, you’ll need to bring some soup. And you’ll need to try someone else’s soup while you’re here. Basically, BYOB is out and BYOS is in.

A soup party, by my definition at least, is a party where everyone brings a soup to share. An excuse to celebrate the most perfect food. A reason to gather ’round the stove and my bright red Dutch oven. Because sure, you can make soup in any pot, but there’s just something undeniably festive about cooking a big batch of something in an enameled workhorse designed to be specifically well-suited for the job.

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The best Dutch oven is this inexpensive one→

In my mind, some friendly competition will ensue—a final vote to see whose soup is the best. Perhaps there will be categories: heartiest, most comforting, most likely to be craved while sick. A soup party can be whatever you want it to be—ferociously competitive or perhaps more mannered—but whatever shape it takes, I’m actually doing it this year, and I hope you’ll join me.

Speaking of soup, we’ll be talking all things soup all week long on Wirecutter’s Instagram. We’ll be spotlighting our kitchen expert’s favorite tools for cooking soup, and we’ll dig up a selection of the best recipes from our friends over at NYT Cooking. (I’m eyeing this light-but-spicy red lentil one.) Our experts will also dish on other advice for soup season, like the best ways to save leftovers—something my humble household of one always struggles with.

In the meantime, I’ll not only be dusting off my Dutch oven. I’ll also master all the ways I can use my new bench scraper. And I’ll be plotting, quietly taking some soup recipes on trial runs. Because if I make one last big splash before year’s end, let it be that I walked away victorious from a competitive soup party of my own making.

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Our top-pick blender Good for making pureed soups→

A very handsome pepper mill This wooden pepper mill has been a Wirecutter pick for eight years→

The best chicken broth you can buy at the store There are some standouts hiding on the grocery store shelves→

A board game as competitive as a soup party With a short and sweet play time, it’s the perfect after-dinner treat→

Photo: Sarah Kobos

Don’t be fooled by its name: This cute enameled vessel isn’t just for butter. It also works as a small stovetop pot, as a bowl for soup or hot cocoa, or even as a ladle. Editor Katie Okamoto uses it for everything: “Reheating coffee, warming milk to froth for chai lattes, simmering single-servings of miso soup, reducing sauces and fruit compote, and, of course, melting butter.”

And? It does all this while looking absolutely fetching and taking up practically no real estate on her shelf.

It’s functional. It’s cute. It makes an excellent gift→

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Slurp.

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