Potato soup the way I love it Simple delicious and warms your soul
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- black pepper to taste
- 1 whole medium onion diced
- 6 slices thin bacon cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 whole carrots scrubbed clean and diced
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 6 whole small russet potatoes peeled and diced
- 8 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoons salt more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoons cajun spice mix
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
- 1 cup grated cheese of your choice
- Carbohydrate 30.4047525185827 g
- Cholesterol 105.515000124154 mg
- Fat 30.0760104513889 g
- Fiber 0.893112513619471 g
- Protein 11.3970887590048 g
- Saturated Fat 18.2238257712574 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (336g)
- Sodium 426.619583569505 mg
- Sugar 29.5116400049633 g
- Trans Fat 2.1226673355728 g
- Calories 435 calories
Step-by-step
- Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the pot.
- Return the hot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice.
- Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.
- Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in cream, then stir in parsley, reserving a little for garnish. Serve in bowls garnished with parsley, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces.
A properly emulsified potato soup coats the back of a spoon with a velvety sheen, balancing the starchy heft of russets against the sharp punctuation of rendered pork fat. Too many attempts result in a gritty broth or a greasy slick floating on top because cooks rush the fat rendering stage and fail to leave the flavorful fond in the bottom of the pot. Rendering bacon slowly over medium heat for eight to ten minutes ensures the fat fully liquefies without scorching the milk solids before the aromatic vegetables ever hit the metal. Leaving that residue behind acts as the primary flavor foundation for sweating the onions, carrots, and celery until translucent.
Russet potatoes contain high levels of cellular starch that rupture easily if boiled aggressively or blended completely into submission. Removing half to two-thirds of the pot contents for pureeing creates a dual-texture base where the remaining intact dice retain structural integrity while the blended portion acts as a natural thickener. Using an immersion blender directly in the pot often incorporates too much air and turns the starch gummy, whereas transferring batches to a standard countertop blender yields a silkier emulsion. Blending hot liquids requires venting the feed cap slightly with a folded towel to prevent steam pressure from blowing the lid off.
Stirring raw flour directly into a boiling broth creates instant lumps that refuse to hydrate properly. Whisking the flour thoroughly into cold or room-temperature milk first creates a smooth slurry that disperses evenly when poured into the simmering broth. Simmering this mixture for precisely five minutes cooks out the raw flour taste without over-thickening the liquid. When substituting dried parsley for fresh herbs, reduce the quantity by half because dehydrated leaves pack concentrated grassy notes that can easily overpower the subtle dairy flavors.
Dairy products split when exposed to high heat or acidic environments, turning a creamy soup into a curdled mess. Heavy cream possesses enough fat content to resist breaking, but it must be stirred in near the end of the cooking process after the heat has been reduced. Storing leftover potato soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days works well, though starches will continue to absorb moisture and require a splash of broth during reheating.
