Suzanne Tracht’s Rustic Beef and Vegetable Soup

Welcome to Sunset Suppers, a series of cooking videos shot by chefs and food notables in the first weeks of self-quarantine. These days everyone’s living, working, and cooking differently. That includes us here at Sunset—where our homes have become our offices/studios/test kitchens—and it includes chefs. We asked our favorite chefs in the West and beyond to turn the camera on themselves and share their tips on how to cook easy, nourishing, and comforting food with the limitations of what people have on hand. Similarly we’d like to know what and how you’re cooking, so please share your hacks and home cook victories on social media and tag it #sunsetsuppers!

Few dishes are as comforting and nourishing as a soup of slow simmered beef and vegetables. Suzanne Tracht shares a dish she’s made time and again for the staff at her Los Angeles restaurant Jar for the evening family meal. The soup itself is as elemental as any and could be made with whatever vegetables you have on hand. In typical cheffy fashion she layers flavor, albeit improvisationally: Chiles add subtle heat to the aromatic vegetables, cabbage adds a healthy silky richness. You could just as easily make a variation with chicken too.