Potato Soup

Potato soup - with cheese, of course!

In ninth grade homemaking class, one of our first cooking lessons involved making white sauce; we added it to English peas to make creamed peas, which seemed pretty gross at the time.  Why on earth would someone need to know how to make white sauce?

I still don’t care for creamed peas, but knowing how to make white sauce has proven very useful over the years.  The proportions of fat and flour to liquid can be changed to suit your needs, but the prep method is the same: add flour to hot fat, stir until flour is coated with fat to make a roux.  Add liquid, cook and stir until the liquid is thickened.  Once the liquid boils, it is as thick as it will ever be; continuing to cook past this point can result in a thinner sauce.   The following formulas are pretty easy to remember:

·         Thin white sauce:  1 Tbsp. fat, 1 Tbsp. flour, 1 cup liquid

·         Medium white sauce:  2 Tbsp. fat, 2 Tbsp. flour, 1 cup liquid

My potato soup is based on a thin white sauce, resulting in a pretty dense soup because of the thickening effect of the potatoes.  If you prefer a thinner soup, add more liquid or fewer potatoes.  Go for real butter!  Add cooked celery if you must.

Potato Soup

2-1/2 lbs. potatoes

½ cup finely chopped onions

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

4 cups liquid (potato liquid and milk)

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash and peel potatoes; cut into large cubes.  Boil until tender; I use about half as much water as potatoes.  When potatoes are cooked to desired tenderness, pour potato liquid into a large liquid measuring cup; add milk to make 4 cups, set aside.  Set potatoes aside.

Strive for more-or-less equal proportions of potatoes and liquid; I had a few more potatoes this time.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and sauté onions until they are translucent, taking care not to burn the butter. 

Saute onions in butter, yes, real butter.

Add flour and whisk until all the flour is coated in fat.  Add potato liquid/milk mixture to flour/butter mixture.  Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened; it should coat a metal spoon.   

Thickened sauce coats a spoon.

Add potatoes; using a potato masher, mash potatoes until they are at the consistency that you like.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  You may also add grated or cubed cheese of your choice at this point; I usually add cheese when serving. 

Old fashioned potato masher works just fine.