Potato Soup

When the weather around here starts getting bitterly cold (it was 6 degrees here this morning), I start thinking about soups and stews. Last weekend I had some chicken stock to use up- so I decided to make some potato soup.

This recipe is an old southern one from a book called (appropriately enough) "Southern Cooking." The author of the cookbook, Lorine Olliff Hendricks, is from Metter, GA. The book is pretty entertaining, and includes recipes for possum and squirrel- I would say that's pretty authentic.

I was looking for a potato soup recipe (cuz I didn't have any possum or squirrel laying around) and found one on page 5.

Here's the recipe:

3 slices bacon
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped fine
3 cups potatoes, sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. water (I used homemade chicken stock)
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese for garnish
3 cups milk
1/2 c. cream

Cook bacon in heavy saucepan until crisp. Remove for later use (I garnished the soup with it). In the bacon drippings, saute onions and carrots. Add water (or stock) and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender (it took about 20 minutes for me). Add seasonings and milk. Heat to boiling point and add cream. When ready to serve, sprinkle crumbled bacon and shredded cheese on top. Yields 1 1/2 quarts.

If I make this again, I would dice the potatoes instead of slicing them. Sliced potatoes are hard to eat in soup. I also think it needed more flavor. It tasted more like milk soup than potato soup.

But it did the trick and warmed everyone up, so it wasn't a complete loss.