dill + potato + soup
A fun thing about The Flavor Bible is that not only are ingredients included in the list of pairings for an ingredient, but also different preparations. It adds an additional layer to the flavor balancing because it also allows you to balance the flavor combination within a certain application. Can you complete avoid creating combinations with a preparation? Absolutely, there are literally THOUSANDS of possible combinations you can create with this book or the others I also use for finding flavor combos to test. In my experience thus far, adding in the application piece can either help or hinder the process – it can either narrow the creative lens and cause a “EUREKA” moment or get you stuck just thinking about the application. In this case, having the application of Soup helped me quickly zero in on an idea.
When I first started thinking about this combination, I thought about my childhood. As a kid, condensed potato soup was one of my absolute favorite of all the canned soups. Even as an adult, if I’m sick and don’t want to eat anything heavy, this is still what I crave (with the classic buttery cracker crumbled in it). Adding in the dill to a creamy potato soup for this combo seemed to be the logical path and now I have this new potato soup recipe that I can make in bulk and freeze for whenever the craving hits, sick or not!
Not to mention, this is a perfect soup for a cold winter night to give those comfort food vibes.
Can I tell you my absolute favorite shortcut for diced potatoes in soup? I buy the frozen diced hashbrowns and I never regret it. Not only does save me time on peeling and dicing, frozen potatoes are also quickly par-cooked (partially cooked) before they are flash frozen, so it also saves time on the cooking side!
If you read the post on my recipe for Pork Allspice Meatballs, you would have seen that a hack I use if I’ve oversalted a soup or sauce is to add a chunk of potato. Potatoes love salt so they will absorb it from a liquid they are in every chance they get! That can work against us in a soup or sauce with potatoes (think bland mashed potatoes) because it can frequently taste like you forgot to add the salt altogether. This soup is no exception! I have a standard measure of 2 teaspoons of salt in here but I always salt to taste after the soup is done cooking – about 50% of the time, I add a little more salt so be sure to taste it before you serve!
Confession time – even just a few years ago, I would have told you that dill was a spice I tried to minimize when I saw it in a recipe. Then I started using fresh dill more often and I have found a whole new love of dill! I actually told my husband the other day that I REALLY want a kitchen candle that has a fresh dill and lemon scent because I am obsessed with the smell of fresh dill now.
In this recipe, I do use dried dill because we’re adding the dill at the beginning and fresh dill would just be unattractive and cooked to death by the time this soup is done cooking. We finish with the fresh dill on top so we have both the underlying notes of the dried dill infused into the soup with a light fresh hit of dill to bring it all together at the end!
I want to tell you about my absolute favorite ingredient for making any kind of soup or gravy. I use the Better than Bouillon brand every chance I get. They have multiple different flavor options but we always have jars of the Vegetable, Beef and Chicken bouillons in our refrigerator at all times. This is a condensed paste, not a powder or cube and the flavor punch it adds to ANYTHING you include it in is phenomenal. I truly believe my soup game elevated by 5 levels once I started using this consistently. Vegetable is probably my favorite of the three, which is what I’m using here. The richness of flavor that comes from this paste is better than any vegetable broth you can buy in the store. You can use the chicken or beef here if you want to – it will simply change some of the background notes of the soup flavor but could absolutely work too.
For the creamy element, I actually have a combination of three milks here – buttermilk, regular milk and heavy cream.
- The regular milk is the base and, if you wanted it less creamy, you could use water here but I strongly recommend leaning into the creaminess.
- The buttermilk adds both tanginess and creaminess, which helps to cut through some of the richness
- The heavy cream is for pure, unadulterated creaminess – nothing makes a sauce or soup feel more luxurious than heavy cream
This soup comes together pretty quickly and most of the cooking time is just letting the potatoes cook in the soup. Most of the heavy lifting is in the first 15 minutes! I lay it out in the recipe below but I like to mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl for a quick add and then also all the milks together in a liquid measuring cup all in advance. Having these pre-combined before you start REALLY takes away the steps of trying to measure in each liquid while you’re also trying to whisk it all together at the same time.
I’ve found that whisking the milks in with a three(ish) step process really helps make sure I have the smoothest soup possible. When the milk hits the hot flour/butter mixture, it will start to seize up immediately. If you add in ALL the milk at the same time, it is really tough to then make sure you’ve taken care of all the lumps because of so much liquid in the pot. I add in about a cup (this is not a specific measure – I just add enough that it covers most of the bottom of the pot. Then I whisk – by only adding in this much milk, it allows me to really create a good emulsion with the roux without splashing milk everywhere and searching for lumps.
The last steps of the milk pouring can be two, three or even four pours until you get all the milk in there. The second pour isn’t going to seize it up the mixture as much as the first one does, so I go a little heavier on this one but I still only use half of what’s left at most and then repeat the whisking process. Typically, this adds enough liquid to the pot to make it a thick sauce, versus a butter/flour/milk paste so adding the remaining milk in is more like adding liquid to liquid and the whisking is still needed but not as crucial as the first two.
Do you have to do it my way? Of course not 🙂 If you like the challenge of pouring in the milk all at once, you do you boo! Buuutttt, I do recommend giving my way a try if you want a soup that looks like this:
dill + potato + soup
Now it’s your turn! What would you make with this flavor combination? Tell me in the comments!
Printcreamy dill potato soup
this soup is giving off childhood potato soup vibes with an adult twist of dill!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
Instructions
Before starting, combine flour, salt and dill in a small bowl. In a large liquid measuring cup, add milk, buttermilk and heavy cream. Set both aside.
In a large pot, melt butter over medium low heat. Once butter is melted, add diced onion and cook for 3-5 minutes or until onion is beginning to soften and is slightly translucent.
Add flour, salt & dill mixture to the butter and onions, whisking until they are fully incorporated with the butter. Add the vegetable Better than Bouillon and whisk in – this will turn the mixture a reddish brown and be slightly less smooth.
Whisking constantly, add about 1 cup of the milk mixture to the pot and whisk until the milk is fully absorbed by the flour. Add about half of what’s remaining of the milk and repeat with the whisking – by dividing up the milk in this way, you minimize the possibility of getting lumps.
Add the remaining milk and whisk until smooth. Add the diced hash brown potatoes and let cook for 20-25 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom. After about 20 minutes, test a potato with a fork – if the fork goes in easily, then the potatoes are cooked.
Potatoes LOVE salt so also test the soup at this time to determine if more salt is needed, then salt to taste if so. Serve soup in bowls and top with fresh dill. Add some crusty bread or buttery crackers if desired!
