Actual recipe:
Cook 4 strips bacon, drain all but 1 tsp. fat. Add 2 thinly sliced leeks--white part only and one medium onion, chopped. Add 2 TBS. butter and 1 TBSP. olive oil. Sautee untuil vegs. are tender. Add 3 TBSP. flour and stir, adding 2 cups shicken broth--I used canned. Add 2 cups diced potatoes and simmer until they are soft, then add 2 C. Half+Half and heat through. Garnish with fresh parsley and crumbled bacon. I wonder if both flavors can be tasted in a recipe that contains both onion and leeks. S+P to taste. I never salt the "pot" and let people ad their own salt. By doing this, one son never salts anything and the other rarely uses salt. I think I did them a favor. I always tell anyone eating my food that there is no salt. I do have one exception--gravy. If I don't salt a little, it is just grease.

If the broth is good, I'd second the vote for a bay leaf. For soups, I find it's often that subtle something that just makes the flavors a bit more complex.

Ann

I agree with LindaC and dcarch. If the broth is rich and flavorful the potato soup will be too.

Jim

BTW, someone (I forget who) recently suggested making a double chicken broth by cooking a chicken and aromatic vegetables (carrot, celery, onion, parsley) in canned chicken broth. That works well.

Jim

Jim,
I'll agree with that if the quality of the purchased broth is good...

Jimster - it was rachelellen on the Dumplings, Dumplings, Dumplings thread that made the double strength chicken stock.

I almost always add bay leaf to my soups. I have forgotten to put in a bay leaf and found the soup lacking something I couldn't quite put my finger on. So even if the recipe doesn't call for it, I plop in a bay leaf, then take out before doing any pureeing if it is a blended soup.

I added a little mustard and tarragon and it picked up a little.
Nancy

One you don't need flour to thicken if you use enough potatoes and mash them. Cheddar Cheese goes well also I like to fry my Veg's as it adds one more flavor I cook everything in milk no water and only use salt and pepper. It always have plenty of flavor, but everyone likes to add their special spice, etc to kick it up a notch.
Paul

The recipe does seem bland to me. Maybe next time cook the onions down more until they start to sweeten but not carmelize.

Make some homemade chicken stock - really you can make this in an instant - just throw some leftover chix bones/carcass into a pot with boiled water and simmer for half an hour - the result of this careless method is still better than a canned stock.

I would add some herbes de provence - tie it in a cheesecloth or use a tea strainer so you don't get bits of dried herbs in the soup. Bay leaf is a good idea along the same lines.

Now, salt. I have to disagree with you mudlady on not "salting the pot". Salt is a very important ingredient for building the flavors in a recipe. You don't have to use a lot. But if you don't add salt (and other flavorings/spices) during the cooking phase especially to a recipe using an ingredient as bland as potatoes, you won't get the depth of flavor. Adding salt as a flavoring after the fact will not taste the same. Was the chix broth you used salted?

Also 2 cups of cream will add blandness to the soup if not salted/spiced in some way. That's a lot of cream.

I would have also added a ton of fresh ground black pepper. White pepper during the cooking would add some background spice and more of that "depth" also. I like to use white pepper in cream sauces and soups.

That's basically a vichysoisse (if chilled) or potato-leek (if warm), except you didn't mention if you were pureeing the soup. Anyway, not typically a spicy or kicky soup. I make this soup - with pureeing - a lot, and to ''up'' the flavour interest, I go one of two ways.

Traditional: Heavy cream instead of arf & arf. More butter! More leeks and fewer potatoes - I usually use slightly more leek than potato by volume - or use more onions. See, boiled potatoes alone are very bland. Use white pepper instead of black - for aesthetic reasons - and use more of it since white pepper is less, well, peppery. More salt, depending on how salty the canned stock already is.

Untraditional: Add a hint of heat - be subtle - with wasabi powder or horseradish. These work because they are mild heat, light-colored, and mix well being powders/pastes. There is an alternative paste that works, I am having a brain block and can't think of it now. In a pinch, I might be tempted to try a dijon mustard (looks like you did). Ladle some soup into a bowl and experiment with that to figure out what/how much, before irrevocably mixing heat into the whole pot.

To tell the truth, I usually do all of the above. I don't use flour.

Finally, I always puree this soup - immersion blender is convenient. Partly to get a creamy, luxuriant texture, but also because if you don't puree, then the ''liquid'' part of the soup is basically just chicken stock, flour, and half & half - which is going to be pretty bland if the stock isn't homemade. Puree first, then adjust the seasonings - salt, pepper, wasabi, butter, etc.

I missed the part about not "salting the pot". Soup without salt will be bland.

I believe it's a mistake to think that non-salt soup is healthful. The body requires a certain level of salt. Intake of large amounts salt-free water is not advisable. That's why patients being maintained on IV drips are given a saline solution, not distilled water. It is also the reason laborers working in hot, arid conditions take salt tablets. It is dangerous for the body to lose too much of its salt.

So, for reasons of health as well as flavor, I use salt in soups. As a starting point, I would suggest the salt concentration of a normal saline solution, which is 0.9%. I'm not sure how to convert that to kitchen measurements. Maybe we have a chemist among us who can help. I think it is about 8 tsp. of salt per gallon of water.

Jim

Wow Jim.....you must not read much about the big problem of too much sodium in the American diet.
The recommended intake of sodium is found in about a teaspoon of salt a day, 2600 mgs a day. That amount is easily exceeded by a hot dog in a bun with pickles, mustard and a few potato chips.
Patients are not "maintained" on normal saline IV drips....the blood pressure is carefully monitored and the saline discontinued is any edema is discovered. It's used to replenish liquid in the case of severe dehydration.
I am sure that Nancy's soup is more healthful without any salt other than that in the canned broth and the vegetables....even though it tastes a bit bland.
Salt is not added to foods for health reasons but for taste. Mankind is engineered to seek salt from cave man days when we were mainly neat eaters and salt was scarce.
We still have the salt craving even though we have lots of salt from chips, diet soda, shell fish, bacon and even many vegetables.

Linda.....I know it was a typo but I still almost spit out my drink on my monitor.....

"Mankind is engineered to seek salt from cave man days when we were mainly neat eaters and salt was scarce."

How we have progressed from caveman days and all that civilized eating to our Super Size fast food that we have now is beyond me! LOL.

Duane

This may not help you, just my opinion. I tried numerous potato soup recipes and didn't like any of them. They either had too much cheese, too much celery, or too much bacon or didn't taste like potatoes, etc. So I devised my own method to make potato soup the way I like it. When I make potato soup I want it to taste strongly like potatoes. For that reason I cook the potatoes in as little water as possible along with plenty of salt and chopped onions. I cook until they are a thick mush. No flour is needed. Besides, flour will destroy the potato taste. I puree if needed and add some cream or half and half. Since the soup is already very thick it doesn't take nearly as much cream as your recipe calls for. If you want it a little thinner you can add a small amount of chicken broth. Re-season with salt and lots of black pepper. Yummy potato soup.

I use kosher salt, appx 440 mg sodium per teaspoon. Into a pot of soup, I may put 1/2 to 1 tsp, or 220 to 440 mg sodium. At mealtime, if each person has 1/4 of the pot - which is what, a triple serving? - that's 55 to 110 mg sodium. Even if you're trying to stick to 1,600 mg sodium/day, it's not a concern.

A similar calculation for other dishes we cook shows that salt added during cooking, and salt added at the table, isn't going to bring most of us anywhere close to the recommended daily limit.

Processed foods are the source of excess sodium. To be fair, that includes a few foods that we use during cooking, like bacon, soy sauce, and commercial stock (but there are good low-sodium version of most of this). But in general, if you cook your food from scratch, and avoid/minimize processed, instant, ready-to-eat, or "fast" food, your sodium intake should be fine.

"Patients are not "maintained" on normal saline IV drips....the blood pressure is carefully monitored and the saline discontinued is any edema is discovered. It's used to replenish liquid in the case of severe dehydration."

It's not only used in cases of severe dehydration. Patients who cannot take liquids by mouth are routinely kept hydrated by an IV drip of saline solution. At least that's what I observed while sitting by the side of a hospital bed for a few weeks. That is what I meant by "maintained". Yes, everything is monitored and adjusted accordingly.

What I said about salt applies to soups and beverages, which have a high water content. Chips, bacon, cheese, salted nuts and those sorts of things are a different story. In many cases the salt in those foods is a flavor in its own right, not just a flavor enhancer. And they aren't given by IV. ;-)

Jim

Sometimes I use potato flakes like instant mashed potatoes,or like my last batch I used 1/4c sour cream.

I need to remind myself to use salt more often.

I have gotten used to enjoy food without salt. I only cook with salt when I have company.

dcarch

Jimster, the IV drip you speak of is not just salt water. It is a complex of electrolytes, glucose and perhaps other medications depending on the situation.
And yes duane....cave men were neat eaters....didn't need to worry about which fork to use or when to use a napkin.
Did you know that the word "salary" has it's origin in the fact that Roman soldiers were paid in salt because it was desirable and scarce.
Linda C a garbage brain who can't type worth a toot!

Linda, I think you are missing the point I was trying to express. Or maybe I failed to express it well. I was simply trying to say that a little salt in soup is not a bad thing. In fact, the body needs a certain amount of salt without which it cannot function. I tried to offer a couple of examples to support that, saline solutions (same root as the word salary has) and salt tablets being another. I have direct personal experience with both.

Have you read about the problem some people have had from drinking too much plain water? In some circles it has been a fashionable thing for a few years now to walk around guzzling from a water bottle. It has been reported that, in some cases, it has been overdone, resulting in washing out too much of the bodies electrolytes (salt is an elecrtolyte) and creating a health issue. Just another example.

Jim

Potato soup at heart is a simple dish--the kind my mother always made was nothing more than potatoes, a bit of onion, salt and pepper all cooked in milk. It was admittedly modest, none was ever left over. I like to enhance this a bit with a bit of thyme, parsley and chives, and sometimes sometimes add some celery and carrot slivers or maybe a bay leaf. Sometimes I use part chicken stock/part cream. I would be concerned, though, if salt was not added during the cooking. Added after, it could not subtly permeate the (bland) potatoes--it would just salinize the broth.

These days we are exposed to so many foods with lots of kick--in my mind, potato soup kind of isn't that. (Of course, not to deter you in seeking an Emeril-like, kick it up another notch!)

Jim do the homework. The amount of water you would need to drink to be toxic, or cause problems is huge. Not anything close to the amount you would get from guzzling from a water bottle, unless you filled a quart bottle about 4 times an hour.
I admit that potato soup tastes better with some salt, but the OP had more than enough salt for health with just the salt in the can of chicken broth and the bacon.

Linda, again you miss the point. I've stated it as plainly as possible. No sense in repeating it.

Jim

Please forgive the rude intrusion, I know I'm not a regular here...

*MY* favorite potato soup recipe (given to me by a friend) is similar to these, except it includes caraway seed. I love the pungent flavor of caraway and it adds a new dimension to the soup. *I* think it's a lovely compliment to the potato.

But then, I like a lot of fresh ground pepper in it too.

Just FWIW

Your "intrusion" is welcome. Not rude at all.

Caraway sounds like a good idea to me. Somehow, most of the green herbs don't seem like a good match to this type of soup. Pepper is appropriate too.

Intrude more often please.

Jim

Nursing is my second profession; I was first a teacher. I put in 28.5 years as a Registered Nurse in an acute care hospital and I saw numerous cases of dehydration, but not one of over hydration. I have never seen salt tablets ordered for any patient. When a patient had "normal" saline of 0.9% running nurses were on the alert for any signs or symptoms of edema. Most saline IV drips are either one-half or one-quarter normal saline.

I do remember my ex saying in 1957, while he was in the Army, salt tablets were available. Maybe current servicemen can tell us if they are still offered. For most Americans, our daily diet provides far more sodium that we need. Hypertension is very common and anyone with high blood pressure is advised to read labels so they are aware of the amount of salt in foods. While not "salting the pot" may result in a less flavorful dish, my kids and all their friends always wolfed my cooking down. I always had a saltshaker on the table and I rarely saw anyone pick it up.

Cute story--When my kids were young and I treated them to fast food on occasion, they always finished their fries before I finished mine. I quickly learned to heavily salt mine (I do salt freely, but always after first tasting). When the kids started in on my fires they immediately gave up because they never acquired their parents' taste for a lot of salt. My 40 year old son is a gourmet cook, self taught. One year, shortly after he married and found himself the cook, he decided to make a New Year resolution to try a new gourmet recipe every weekend. I think he could become a chef. He is now divorced and treats all his dates to one fabulous meal after another. They love his food even though he uses salt sparingly.

Nancy

I don't worry about salting at the table either.

Take a piece of paper and salt it, as if it were a plate. Measure the amount of table salt. I get about 1/10 of 1/4 tsp. That is about 60mg sodium. It is very little, relative to a 1,600 mg/day target.

Compare to a Big Mac or a can of commercial soup, which are around 800mg of sodium - each.

I agree the average American consumes way too much salt. Cooking at home and the home salt shaker don't have much to do with that. It is the processed junk people eat.

I am on a low sodium diet for health reasons. I substitute Costco's Organic No-salt Seasoning in my potato soup. It's a blend of 21 organic spices and it adds just the right touch to my soup. Also a bit of crushed red pepper flakes does wonders for potato soup. Not too much though.

Beverly, you and I make the same soup! That's the best way, I think. Although, it does need plenty of salt and pepper. Just like I eat my baked potatoes or my mashed potatoes.

Like some others here,
I never salt foods while cooking.
Doctor's orders.
At first it was hard, nothing tasted good.
But with time and persistance,
I learned real fast that I much preferred 'no salt'
to any of the salt substitutes.
My family learned, too.
But they can and often do,
Add salt at the table.

The potato soup I make is very simple.
Potatoes, peeled and cubed.
A little chopped onion,
a few shakes of white pepper.
A slice or 2 (depending on how many potatoes)of bacon, diced
And just enough chicken broth to cover.

Cook until done.

Usually I use a stick blender to puree everything.
I use half & half to get the
consistancy I want.
No flour to thicken.

The relatively small amount of bacon compliments the potatoes
but isn't overwhelming.
Nor is it enough salt to upset health issues.

Some would consider this 'bland'.
But we like the fact that what you basically taste is the simple goodness of the potatoes.

Garnish is a few crumbles of crisply fried bacon.
And/or a sprig or 2 of parsley.

Now I'm going to have to make some for supper tonight,
It's really cool out today! 63 degrees.

Rusty

When I saw a man open his ham sandwich and liberally salt it one time, I really realized how conditioned we are by the fast food and canned soups and frozen "dinners" to eat lots of salt.
Idaho russet potatoes are on special at my supermarket this week. $.88 for 5 pounds. I better stock up!

Thanks for stating what you know, Mudlady.

Both my aunt and my father (they were not siblings) salted BLTs! Mayonaise contains salt and bacon is very salty, so what's left to salt? The tomato, they said. My father salted peanut butter, bananas, watermelon and apples. He never tasted before salting because nothing was every too salty to him. My mother used to yell at him for his use of salt and vinegar--she said vinegar thinned your blood! My father, a WW2 vet, also lectured us that people needed salt tablets if they sweated. He died at 72 of a massive brain hemorrhage and he had moderate hypertension and never took and medication to lower his B/P. I, on the other hand, who never salted in huge amounts, had a BP of 200/100 in my late fifties. Go figure!!! Fortunately for me, medications keep my B/P very low and I use salt as much as I want to. If the medication didn't work I would have to severely restrict salt, something I did both times I was pregnant, and I HATED it. I wanted to teach my kids to enjoy healthful eating habits so I simply never salted any of their food, except for gravy, which I made at Thanksgiving.
Nancy

We don't eat many processed foods, and we rarely salt anything at the table. I was just saying that I think salt brings out the flavor of foods while cooking them, and you were asking about flavor. After all, saltiness is one of the the 4-5 basic taste sensations of the tongue. But if anyone has a problem with salt intake, definitely stick with what you need to do.

For me, since I don't eat salted processed foods and I work out a lot, I need to make sure I am getting ENOUGH salt. I found that I do a lot better drinking low-cal Gatorade for my workouts than plain water, and have discussed this with my doctor. Sometimes when I go to work out, I will grab a mini-bag of Cheetos or something like that from behind the counter at my Ping Pong club, and eat that before the workout. But most people are sedentary and don't have to worry about loss of salt from sweating - and also sports drinks shouldn't be used casually - they are called sports drinks for a reason, LOL.

Nancy, I had a co-worker once who made Swanson's frozen meals for lunch and she would salt the bejeebus out of it - I was queasy watching the amount of salt she ate.

And with my Korean background and love of Korean, Japanese, Chinese foods - well those foods eaten at restaurants are loaded with salt too. All the more reason to learn to make that cuisine at home!

Mudlady, I do know that salt tablets are still available in the steel mills and related industries.

And with all this talk of potato soup, I think I need to set up a pot. But mine does not have flour, cream or chicken stock/broth. And it has plenty of flavor.

Good news, bad news:

Good news: You will not be feeling deprived once you are used to a low salted/no salt way of cooking and eating. Food taste good or better for me (when I cook for myself) using very little salt.

Bad news; If we don't start using lower salt in food, this will soon happen:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Govts+should+regulate+food+salt+content+Study/3764343/story.html

then bacon, cream, butter ------

dcarch

Looking at the original post again, I notice the recipe is loaded with fats and carbohydrates. The key ingredient, potatoes, are known to cause obesity. The only healthful ingredient is the parsley.

Jim

If a recipe calls for salt, I use it. Sometimes I'll even add salt to a baked recipe that doesn't call for it. I don't own a salt shaker so my kids are not in the habbit of adding salt. Fresh corn on the cob and tomatoes are the exception.
I generally don't miss it except when I eat somewhere and have salted butter on good bread. Then I realize what I've been missing.
Jo

I never considered this recipe low fat and that IS another thing the average American overdose. When I made it I considered it an unusual treat and not something I wouold often eat. The chicken broth was 99% fat free but the half-and-half and butter were sins.
Nancy

I know I'm late to this discussion. My husband has CHF and is on a low salt diet. I've found that potatoes are one of the most difficult things to cook flavorfully. It's no simple matter to me.

Baked potatoes taste fine because all the good potato flavor is captured inside the skin. Cut up & roasted potatoes and fried potatoes are great too. But any dish that requires boiling, like mashed potatoes, is really difficult. I think it's because so much of the potato flavor is lost in the cooking water which is usually just poured down the drain.

For mashed potatoes, I now leave some of the peel on and cook the cut up potatoes in a small amount of unsalted water. By the time the potatoes are soft, most of the water has been absorbed. Then I add the other ingredients like milk, butter, etc. This method helps preserve most of the potato flavor. Bland to some palates, but definitely not wallpaper paste.

I agree with others that if the amount of salt used in potato soup is lessened, than the amount of potatoes especially & possibly leeks might need to be increased.

Shambo, Have you tried steaming the potaoes, not boiling them?

I had potatoes tonight steamed. Nothinhg added. I really enjoyed them. Tasted like chestnuts.

dcarch

Wanted to catch up on this thread since I bought a 10# bag of potatoes last night on special. It's funny that so many thought potato soup needed to be kicked up or spiced up to avoid being bland. Both my mom and I make potato soup to take to those feeling under the weather. I don't consider my soup to be bland, but the simplicity of potato soup is a desirable trait IMO. I simply saute some onion (and sometimes garlic) in some butter, add some cubed potatoes, chicken broth, salt pepper and a bit of butter. Cook this until the potatoes are falling apart then blend with the immersion blender. I will add a bay leaf and a small spring of rosemary next time, removing them before I puree.

Teresa

Dcarch, I've steamed the potatoes. That's my other method for mashed and for potato salads. It works well too. Anything other than the usual boiling. I love mashed potatoes. My mom usually cooked Greek style, so we didn't have mashed potatoes very often. Mainly at Thanksgiving and Christmas. So they've always been a special treat for me. I was pretty disapointed the first time I made salt-free mashed potatoes. I knew I had to come up with a better way. So, yes, the steaming does make a difference. It preserves more potato flavor.

"It's funny that so many thought potato soup needed to be kicked up or spiced up to avoid being bland."

My thoughts exactly.

And for potato salad, I always cook them in their "jackets".
Also keeps the flavor in.

Rusty

I have to admit that I am looking to duplicate the potato soup served in the nursing home that is run by our local hospital. The food in the nursing home is often better than the hospital's because it doesn't have to be safe for people with various illnesses. The belief of many nursing homes is now that the old people should have food that tastes good to them as often as possible. Whatever it is that I want to perk up the flavor of my potato soup is in the nursing home soup. That is the best tasting soup I have ever had. The food is prepared in the hospital kitchen and most of that food comes from a service. There is no chef I can ask. Guess I have something to look forward to when they drag me out of my house and over to the nursing home ;-)
Nancy

Rusty, you're right. Steam in jackets. That's what I do but forgot to mention it. It truly makes a difference.

Mudlady, the philosophy of giving the ailing elderly good tasting food is great. I know at my mom's last assisted living facility, the residents were able to bring whatever special condiments to the table they wanted. Some had Mrs. Dash products. But others brought hot sauces, pepper grinders, etc. One of my mom's tablemates always got a small bowl of chopped red onions for both lunch & dinner. The kitchen staff was happy to provide anything the residents wanted. They wanted the residents to eat & enjoy their meals.

When potato soup is done I always add about 1/2 cup (depending on the amount of soup)of sour cream. Perks the flavor right up! Make sure soup does not boil after adding sour cream.

Gloria

Try adding a few ounces of Stilton or other good blue cheese.....divine.

I have a fantastic potato soup recipe, its the only one I use now. Its a cream cheese potato soup. Its listed under soups click on the box, then on Soups/Sauces

Jimster, now you've stepped over the line. Remember, I'm Native American, but the other part is Irish. Let's have a bit of respect for my humble potato!

Potatoes are not the cause of obesity, it's the stuff you put on them, the gravy, the sour cream, the butter. An average potato has 45% of the daily value for vitamin C, 620 mg potassium, comparable to bananas, spinach and broccoli, trace amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, folate, magnesium, phosphorous, iron and zinc and all for only 110 calories and no fat. And potatoes with the skin on are an excellent source of fiber. In fact, with 2 grams of fiber per serving, a potato equals or exceeds that of many "whole" grain products-whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta and many cereals.

Can you tell I love potatoes? (grin)

Elery's potato soup is much like Teresa's, with no milk or cream. The potato soup I grew up with was made with items easily grown or produced on the farm, which would be an onion, sauteed in butter, potatoes simmered in a little broth and then mashed and milk added until it was "soup". Salt and pepper to taste.

I do agree that our main source of salt is processed food items like canned soup, frozen dinners and specialty meats. Cooking from scratch makes it much easier to control our sodium intake.

My Dad was one of those people who salted everything and no amount of salt was too much. I seldom eat processed foods and never salt things like fruit and I always cook potatoes and pasta without salting the water, it used to drive my ex-MIL crazy so I kept doing it. Now I've been on blood pressure meds for several months. Salt doesn't seem to make a difference up or down in my blood pressure and I sure didn't develop high blood pressure because of my salt intake!

Annie