Kristi Brown spends many a night putting out pork chops, catfish, and snack plates of her signature black-eyed pea hummus at her Central District restaurant, Communion. Outside of work, however, “I’m committed to cooking at least two meals per week,” says the chef, who still has a teenager to feed at home. “A lot of the time, that means soup.” 

Bowls of broth, spiced like pho and filled with brisket and rib tips, have been a Communion staple since it opened in 2020. These exemplify Brown’s particular blend of soul food and Asian influences from decades of proximity to Seattle’s Chinatown–International District. Off duty, she melds these same flavors with practiced ease, but with a home cook’s eye for using ingredients you already have. The point of her frequent soup forays, says Brown, is “you don’t have to run out and get a whole bunch of stuff.” 

She lays a flavor foundation with homemade broth and a piece of meat from the freezer—“more than likely it’s some piece of pork.” Brown’s still cooking her way through a haul from a recent trip to Ballard butcher Beast and Cleaver. Rather than let a pot of ingredients simmer together, she prepares each element separately. The whole process still takes about 20 minutes, she says; this way, “you can taste everything, all the way through.” Even better, when Brown brings everything to the table, her family can fix their own bowls. 

Ingredients

• Meat, mix and match beef, pork, chicken, even shrimp 
• Broth, about 4 cups, see sidebar (store-bought is okay, too) 
• Leafy greens, collards, bok choy, or Chinese broccoli 
• Onion 
• Garlic 
• Vegetables, carrots are great; Brown considers mushrooms indispensable 
• Noodles, rice or shirataki

Making Broth Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

“Two weeks to a month straight, I’m saving bones, carcasses, onion peels, garlic peels, celery ends,” Brown says. She stashes all these in her freezer, either in a ziplock bag or one of those tall plastic containers restaurants might use for takeout soup. Once Brown has a critical mass of frozen broth elements, she transfers them to a pot, covers her collection with water, and lets it simmer. A few hours is fine, though if she’s making a big batch Brown’s broth might cook on low overnight. Once it’s ready, strain out the liquid to make soup, or pop it in the freezer to deploy when needed.

Steps

1. Make a marinade. Brown throws chile paste, a few smashed cloves of garlic, Bragg liquid aminos, sesame oil, and chile flakes into a plastic bag or container. Add your meat and set aside. 
2. Set some water to boil for your noodles. Chop or otherwise prep the onion, garlic, and vegetables. 
3. Get your broth (frozen, thawed, or store-bought) on the stove, in its own pot. Add seasonings as it warms: a bay leaf, salt, white pepper, chile flakes, a chunk of ginger, maybe some soy sauce or liquid aminos, “for a different level of salt.” 

   

4. While the broth warms and simmers, use that boiling water to blanch the noodles.  
5. Remove your meat from the marinade. Slice it into soup-appropriate pieces and saute in a pan with some oil. Place cooked meat in serving bowl or on a platter. Drain the noodles, and nestle them next to the meat. 
6. Add garlic and onions to that same pan to saute on low heat. After a few minutes, add the rest of your vegetables. Brown likes to season these with rice vinegar, nori flakes, and a dash of liquid aminos. 

   

7. Bring the broth, vegetables, noodles, and protein to the table. Everyone can assemble their own bowl as they like it.