Potato soup gone wrong

[JennyUptown]

*sigh* I'm trying to cook, but it's not going very well at the moment. eGullet has aided this process (a ton), especially with respect to helping me avoid some rookie mistakes. Alas, I didn't ask for help BEFORE I started cooking this potato soup. Such a shame.

The gloppy stuff is still simmering away, but I don't hold out much help for it being edible. It looks kind of gluey, more glutinous than any soup I've ever eaten in a restaurant, that's for sure. And no matter how much salt I add, it still tastes so bland.

I think my first mistake was in the type of potatoes I used. The recipe was not specific (I find that to be a problem with about 25% of the recipes I try from that site to which I linked above) so I made my best guess at the grocery store, choosing a bag of Yukon gold potatoes that noted "good for cooking" on the bag, a phrase that made me laugh. I don't know what other people do with potatoes beyond cooking and I'm happy that way.

Otherwise, I was confused by the recipe. The way it reads, you simmer for an hour or so, then add chopped baked potatoes and - seemingly - serve. But that doesn't work, of course, so I added the baked potato chunks sooner.

Blah, I'm bummed. I enjoyed the process so much - peeling potatoes, chopping onions, using my food processor (new to me), etc. - so I'm sad that it isn't going to end up in a delicious soup.

Any thoughts on other soup pitfalls to avoid? Maybe a better potato soup recipe you can recommend?

Thanks all.

J

[mnebergall]

You should have used russets like the recipe said. Yukon Golds have a differet texture. I also suggest that you check out the eGCI on potatos.

PS: Russets are baking potatoes.

Edited February 15, 2004 by mnebergall (log)

[jackal10]

Don't give up!

Strangest potato soup recipe I've seen in a while.

OK lets try and figure what went wrong, and how to fix.

The variety of potato won't effect it much. Yukon gold is low starch anyway, and a good variety to choose.

I'd say you've much too much potato; 8oz would be more than enough for a quart - see recipes for Bonne Femme or Vichyssoise. You've got more like 3lbs in there

Basically you've much too much starch. I guess the baked potato is only really added as a garnish, but you've added it early and its broken down. You may have over-pureed the potato first as well - I make my potato soup from chunks of potato (and leek), than then lightly puree when cooked.

What to do? You need to dilute by a five parts or so Take a quarter of the soup (a cup full) and dilute it with 5 cups of ideally milk, or otherwise stock or water. You will also need quite a lot of salt and pepper - taste as you go. Reheat, but don't boil if you can avoid it.

Then continue as in the original recipe.

Personally I'd put the cheese on a croûton of toast, and melt that under a grill separately. Easier to handle.

Edited February 15, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[fifi]

Jenny... What Jackal10 said. Do not get discouraged. As an "experienced" cook, you should see what I ended up with the time I tried to make pearl tapioca in coconut milk.

[JennyUptown]

Fortunately, I resisted the urge to dump the whole darn pot of soup and am in the process of trying jackal's recommendation. Thanks to all for taking the time to share ideas!

[sml311]

Here's a somewhat simpler recipe that I'll make when pressed for time.

2 stalks sliced celery

1 med chopped onion (i use yellow)

about a teaspoon of chopped garlic if you wish

2 Tb if butter

3 cups chicken stock

6 med potatoes peeled and cubed (i prefer russet, but have used yukon gold)

3/4 t. salt or to taste

thyme and rosemary (optional to taste--original recipe suggests a 1/2 t. each of dried, but i have varied it and always remove rosemary)

dash of pepper

2 cups half and half

satuee celery. garlic and onions in 1 Tb of butter in large pot until tender

add stock, potatoes, salt, thyme, rosemary and pepper

cover and simmer until potatoes are fork tender

remove from heat and lightly mash potatoes and vegetables with potato masher or forks (the fork option requires more patience, but i have done it--this week in fact)

add half and half and replace on heat (you really just need to warm it up but i bring it to a boil for 1 min because that's the only way i can have milk products--allergies) STIR CONSTANTLY (you can also add cheese at this step if you wish)

remove from heat and stir in other Tb. of butter until melted

serve with whatever garnishes you choose--i prefer bacon, but the cheese crouton sounds great too

good luck!!

SML

Edited February 16, 2004 by sml311 (log)

[JennyUptown]

So...what should I do with all of these leftover yukon golds? I had to buy a five lb bag. I now know that they are not the best choice for soup.

[Al_Dente]

So...what should I do with all of these leftover yukon golds?  I had to buy a five lb bag.  I now know that they are not the best choice for soup. 

I did a cool thing with some Yukons for part VDay dinner.

Shred the potato using the big holes on a box grater. Rinse them a bit (to remove some of the starch), squeeze out the water and pat dry as best you can with paper towels. Add an egg to the grated potato and mix it up. Melt some butter in a pan, slap a handful of the potato in there, and flatten it out to about a 1/2 inch thick disk-- basically like a latke. Brown it on both sides. Make 2 of these things.

Now you can make a little pie like thingy since you now have the upper and lower "crusts". Fill it as you like. I took a few strips of serrano ham ( ) and placed them in the bottom of a baking dish-- this way they crisped up a bit like bacon. Put one of the potato thingies on top. I sauteed a bunch of wild mushrooms and put this on top of the potato with some grated gruyere cheese. Now put the second potato thing over it. Sprinkle some more cheese, pour about 1/4 cup of cream for extra decadence over it, and pop it in the oven at 375 for 20 mins.

Made for a good breakfast the next morning too.

Edited February 16, 2004 by Al_Dente (log)

[cjsadler]

So...what should I do with all of these leftover yukon golds? I had to buy a five lb bag. I now know that they are not the best choice for soup.

Yukon golds make the best oven roasted potatoes, in my opinion. Quarter and mix them with some olive oil and salt and spread on a heavy sheet pan*. Roast in the oven at 400. It will take about 40 minutes or so (I never really time it-- just check on their progress and flip once or twice). Take out when they are as crispy as you like. Yukons make excellent mashed potatoes too.

*After my own disasters, I've learned that a heavy gauge sheet pan is key. If it's one of those flimsy grocery store ones, throw it right in the trash.

[JPW]

So...what should I do with all of these leftover yukon golds?  I had to buy a five lb bag.  I now know that they are not the best choice for soup. 

Yukon golds make the best oven roasted potatoes, in my opinion. Quarter and mix them with some olive oil and salt and spread on a heavy sheet pan*. Roast in the oven at 400. It will take about 40 minutes or so (I never really time it-- just check on their progress and flip once or twice). Take out when they are as crispy as you like. Yukons make excellent mashed potatoes too.

*After my own disasters, I've learned that a heavy gauge sheet pan is key. If it's one of those flimsy grocery store ones, throw it right in the trash.

That's how I know my oven is hot.

At about 350 my sheet pan (target I believe) goes BOOINNNGGGG!

as two opposite corners pop up .

[ellencho]

I usually don't make recipes from the Best Of show because I'm always suspicious that the restaurant who supplied the recipe didn't give 100% accurate directions.

Anyway, I'd have to agree with everyone who said you might have overprocessed the potatoes, this turning them into glue. My brother once over mashed some potatoes at Thanksgiving one year and the resulting potatoes ended up looking an awful lot like library paste.

I have one eensy suggestion for you next time you make potato soup. Unless you're going to be serving all of the soup all at once on the same day, when I make potato soup I only blend a servings worth of the soup using an immersion blender, in a separate pot. I figure, if I'm not going to serving the entire pot of soup but did blend the entire pot, with every re-heating of the soup, it's going to end up thicker and thicker every time. So I leave my uneaten soup unprocessed as insurance against overly thick potato soup.

[JennyUptown]

Perhaps I am just not meant to cook with potatoes...

Last night, using the expert advice shared in the mashed potatoes thread, I attempted to make some of my own. Big fat bust.

I'm sticking to rice.

[snowman]

I think Yukon Golds make terrific soup, personally. You might want to try again with a more normal potato-leek soup recipe.

One other nice choice might be to make tortilla (the Spanish potato/onion omelette/fritatta thing) with the Yukon Golds. Here is a recipe from this site's archive. Tortilla changed the way I feel about potatoes; I didn't realize just how wonderful they could be.

[hillvalley]

Perhaps I am just not meant to cook with potatoes...

Last night, using the expert advice shared in the mashed potatoes thread, I attempted to make some of my own. Big fat bust.

I'm sticking to rice.

We're not letting you get off that easily

You should start with something simple, like a twice baked or roasted potatoes.

In fact, now I am craving roasted Yukons!

[sabg]

*sigh* I'm trying to cook, but it's not going very well at the moment. eGullet has aided this process (a ton), especially with respect to helping me avoid some rookie mistakes. Alas, I didn't ask for help BEFORE I started cooking this potato soup. Such a shame.

The gloppy stuff is still simmering away, but I don't hold out much help for it being edible. It looks kind of gluey, more glutinous than any soup I've ever eaten in a restaurant, that's for sure. And no matter how much salt I add, it still tastes so bland.

I think my first mistake was in the type of potatoes I used. The recipe was not specific (I find that to be a problem with about 25% of the recipes I try from that site to which I linked above) so I made my best guess at the grocery store, choosing a bag of Yukon gold potatoes that noted "good for cooking" on the bag, a phrase that made me laugh. I don't know what other people do with potatoes beyond cooking and I'm happy that way.

Otherwise, I was confused by the recipe. The way it reads, you simmer for an hour or so, then add chopped baked potatoes and - seemingly - serve. But that doesn't work, of course, so I added the baked potato chunks sooner.

Blah, I'm bummed. I enjoyed the process so much - peeling potatoes, chopping onions, using my food processor (new to me), etc. - so I'm sad that it isn't going to end up in a delicious soup.

Any thoughts on other soup pitfalls to avoid? Maybe a better potato soup recipe you can recommend?

Thanks all.

J

did you use the processer with the steel blade? i did that once and got a whole big bunch a glue. i have a vita-mixz and that did a great job with out the gluey texture but ususally i just mash witha pot masher really well or use electric mixer, seems to eliminate the glue texture

[babyluck]

A surefire method for flavorful, easy potato soup:

Basic ingredients:

1 Tb butter

1 lg yellow onion, chopped

4-5 potatoes, peeled, cubed

water

1-2 c milk

s&p

Sautée onion very slowly in butter for 10 minutes or so until golden. Add potatoes (at least 3 should be russet--I throw in one Gold if I have it) and stir for a few minutes until they just start to color. Add water to cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and have thickened the soup. Add milk. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

You can add dried dill with the potatoes or fresh toward the end.

It's hard to get flavor, especially out of something bland like a potato, without caramelizing the ingredients before simmering. I'm not surprised it was flavorless. This way, you use just one Tb of butter & don't need all the cream & garnishes. You can always toss in a few tablespoons of cream if you want it more luxurious--a little goes a long way.

[slbunge]

Perhaps I am just not meant to cook with potatoes...

Last night, using the expert advice shared in the mashed potatoes thread, I attempted to make some of my own. Big fat bust.

I'm sticking to rice.

Over the weekend, I used Col Klink's recommendations over on the baked potato thread and had the best darn baked potatoes I have ever cooked at home. You might want to start there when you get another hankering for a potato.

I think that mashed potatoes are not all that easy to get spot on. I've used food mills, ricers, mixers, and mashers all to various effects. I've moistened with milk, butter, milk and butter, and buttermilk. Right now, the masher and milk are what I reach for exclusively. When serving guests, I cheat and add parsnips to the mash (use the foodmill for those, they're stringy) so that people are distracted from the not-so-perfect texture by an earthy flavor they might not be used to.