Instructions

1. Remove the finished soup from the stove, and allow it to cool slightly. It does not need to actually get cold, but it needs to stop simmering or boiling long enough for the ingredients to settle and the oil to rise to the top.

2. Scoop the oil off the soup's surface with a soup skimmer, if you have one. If not, you can use a large spoon or a ladle instead. Drag the edge of the utensil just under the layer of oil to collect it, and then discard the contents of the skimmer, spoon or ladle. You will end up discarding a little bit of the soup in the process, but this is unfortunately unavoidable.

3. Place the soup into the refrigerator if the oil you wish to remove comes from fats that will solidify. For example, if the oil in the hot soup comes from chicken fat, it will solidify at lower temperatures. If, however, it comes from olive oil, it will remain liquid, and refrigerating your soup in an attempt to remove more fat will be pointless.

4. Remove the soup from the refrigerator after six to eight hours. By this point, the fat should have hardened into a solid layer on top of the soup. Scoop off the fat with a spoon or soup skimmer. Some of the fat may cling to the edge of the container around the top of the soup; scrape this off as well to remove even more oil from the finished product.