When a cold settles in, even simple food can feel like effort. Soup is the exception. It is warm, gentle, hydrating, and easy to customize with ingredients that support comfort when the body is run down.

When the windows frost over and dinner needs to feel like a blanket, soup does the job better than almost anything else. The best cold-weather soups are not delicate starters. They are sturdy meals built from roots, grains, beans, fish, meat, cabbage, cream, and long-simmered broth.