The weather outside is frightful, but at least there are plenty of soup options.

For as long as humans had fire, they made soup. The premise is simple to its core: hot liquid, plus everything else – any scraps of meat, veggies, starch or whatever else you have lying around in your cave, err, fridge.

Since the invention of boiling water and adding things, humans have spent millennia perfecting soup. And luckily for Monterey County residents, you don’t have to go far to try a vast array of soups, right on time for the rainy/windy hell-storm this winter.

Soondobu jiggae, New Korea Restaurant

This Marina joint has a claim to fame as being the only local spot to specialize in soondae and its many iterations like soondae kook. We get it, not everyone wants to have blood sausage stuffed with rice noodles (your loss, really). This eatery should have another claim to fame, however. Their soondobu jiggae, sometimes translated as soon tofu soup, makes use of pipping hot broth that uses a base of gochugaru chilis (that’s the primary chili used in kimchi) and is characterized by the addition of silken tofu. Not to be confused with soft tofu, silken tofu has an even more delicate texture, with delightfully custard-like jiggle. Swimming in the spicy broth, the silken tofu breaks apart from the residual simmering when it comes to you in its raging hot clay pot. If you’re taking it to-go, don’t expect the same effect. There are limits to takeout boxes.

“Chicken” pozole, El Cantaro

Let’s forget that time talk show host Rachel Ray kept switching her descriptors from “stew” to “soup” to “chili” when last year she made her veggie “pozole” on air. Done? OK. Now let’s talk about the respect that pozole deserves. The beloved Mexican dish can trace its roots to the Aztecs; El Cantaro takes that tradition and makes it vegan. Traditional pozole rojo is made using pork broth in a chili base, but the Monterey restaurant uses veggie broth spiked with a variety of chilis. The star ingredient is plump white hominy, but also features a “chicken” alternative and crunchy cabbage and radishes. It also comes with lime wedge, which customers will hopefully take advantage of in between bites.

Kimchi Ramen, Cafe Luna

To go without one kind of ramen on this list would be blasphemous, so kimchi ramen it is. Carmel’s Cafe Luna has a variety of options when it comes to ramen. You can double the carbs with their wonton ramen, or enjoy a lighter option with chicken ramen, but the kimchi ramen stands out. Ramen broths are usually indulgent, thick stocks, brought to life with bouncy wheat noodles. Add kimchi to the equation with a jammy egg and a fun fishcake, and you get a deeper, more complex soup with a kick of spice.

Gratinée à l’oignon, Bistro Moulin

A quintessential bistro item, I’m perplexed as to why this soup is filed under the hors d’œuvres because it has the trappings of a full meal. Done “au gratin,” which is to say properly, a thick base of slowly caramelized onions are deglazed with broth to make dark brown, murky, delicious, earthy soup. It’s topped with crusty baguette and a decent layer of Gruyère cheese. And by decent layer, you really have to do some digging. Fine with us, because at this Monterey mainstay, you can create the perfect bite of lacy gooey cheese, bread and soup.

Tom Kha, Siam Thai

There is something to be said for simplicity. But in the case of the simple coconut milk soup at Siam Thai, you’d be forgiven for not saying anything if you’re too busy shoveling spoonfuls into your mouth. The tom kha at this Marina restaurant balances a hit of lime juice with the fattiness of coconut milk and fragrant herbal notes of galangal and lemongrass. Keep it vegetarian with tofu, or add chicken if you miss the meat.

Bo Kho, Thanh Loi

You may have expected pho on this list, but bo kho at this Salinas restaurant is another beefy Vietnamese invention that deserves the limelight too. Pho shows off some of Vietnam’s variety of spices – bo kho shows the variety more forcefully. The soupy element of bho kho is more like a thin gravy of anise, cinnamon, peppers, lemongrass and ginger, with added body from fall-apart beef chunks and carrots. You can technically pho it up, by choosing pho noodles to soak up the soup. But if you want noodles that can take the weight of the broth try adding starchy egg noodles instead.