The leftover stock from oven-cooked Wagon Wheel Baby Back Ribs is the base for one of the best soups we’ve ever enjoyed. 

This soup doesn’t really have much to do with cowboys, except that if we were cowboys, this would be what we’d want to eat around the campfire. A cold night, wolves howling in the darkness, shooting stars above, a roaring fire cracking and sparking, a properly chilled Riesling… (We’re the kinds of cowboys who pack stemware.)

Cowboy Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups leftover liquid from Wagon Wheel Ribs
• 1 pound leftover baby back ribs, meat cut from bone and sliced into bite-sized chunks
• leftover bones, cracked
• leftover potatoes, beans and onions
• fresh sweet corn from one or two cobs (1 – 2 cups)
• 1 cup smoked gouda cheese, shredded
• bay leaf
• additional potatoes, cut into large chunks, salted and seasoned as desired
• additional spices and seasonings such as chili powder, jerk rub, Cholula sauce, Mongolian fire oil, oregano, mesquite seasoning, salt and pepper, as desired
• sour cream

Directions

• Place leftover ingredients from Wagon Wheel Ribs (liquid, meat, bones, potatoes, beans, onions) and bay leaf in a medium-sized pot and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer.
• Meanwhile, place olive oil in a skillet and heat over medium heat. Add chunks of additional potatoes, seasoned as desired with salt, pepper, Cholula sauce and jerk rub. Cook till tender.
• Add potatoes to soup. Stir in sweet corn and gouda cheese. Add additional seasonings if desired.
• Serve piping hot with a dollop of sour cream.