Laxsoppa over an open fire – Finnish salmon soup (lohikeitto) in the pot on a winter's day

Potatoes and leek in the pot, the salmon in last and dill on top

4 servings
Time: 20 min at home + 35 min over the fire
Difficulty: Easy
13 ingredients
9 steps

Photo: Nonepse, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The fire pit sits where the cross-country ski tracks turn in among the spruces. The fire has been burning for a while, the snow has melted in a dark ring around the stones and the pot is already on the grate. Out of the flask comes the steaming stock, with allspice berries and a bay leaf swirling round. Ten minutes later the whole clearing smells of dill, and nobody asks how far there is to go any more.

Salmon soup is everyday Finnish food, lohikeitto, and it suits winter unusually well: it's filling, it warms you from the inside and almost all the work can be done at home. The only thing that really has to happen at the fire is what makes the soup good – letting the salmon simmer gently for the last few minutes, so it holds together in big, juicy pieces.

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At home or by the fire

A pot with two litres of cold water takes a long time to come to the boil on a sub-zero day. That's why the soup is split into two parts.

At home: bring the water to the boil with the stock cube, allspice and bay leaves. Warm the flask with hot water, empty it and fill it with the boiling stock. Peel the potatoes and dice them into pieces of about 1.5 centimetres – small pieces soften faster outdoors. The cut surfaces may go a little grey in a few hours, but that's harmless and hardly visible in the soup. Slice the leek and carrot thinly and put everything in an airtight box. Cut the salmon into 3-centimetre pieces and feel for bones with your fingertips.

At the fire: the vegetables are fried, the stock poured in, the potatoes cooked soft and the salmon simmers for the last few minutes. It takes just over half an hour from when the pot goes on the grate, a little longer with frozen salmon.

If you have a whole day at winter camp and water to melt, you can start from scratch at the fire – then allow more time and read melting snow for water first. More ways to let the flask do the work in cooking outdoors in winter.

Tips for salmon soup in the cold

The salmon can travel frozen. Freeze the salmon pieces in an airtight bag at home. On a cold day they barely thaw on the way, and they keep the cream and vegetables cold in a warm car. Allow more time in the pot.
Don't let the salmon thaw and refreeze. Raw salmon that has thawed during the trip must be cooked the same day. Thawed raw food should only be refrozen if it has thawed in the fridge.
Protect the potatoes and cream from frost. Raw potatoes that freeze turn soft and watery, and cream that freezes can separate. Pack them in the middle of the rucksack or pulk, ideally wrapped in a jumper. How to pack the pulk is explained in pulk sled with gear.
Frozen dill works perfectly. It doesn't need protecting from the cold and can be sprinkled straight into the soup.
Lid on the whole time. Without a lid the heat escapes into the cold and the soup takes much longer.
Warm the cups. A cold cup cools the soup within a minute. Rinse it with a little hot water from the pot or the flask first.
The fat sets quickly. Creamy soup standing in the cold quickly gets a skin on the surface. Serve everyone at once and stir the pot between portions.

Safety at the pot

Salmon should be cooked through, and it is once the pieces have simmered until they're opaque all the way through. Salmon in the shops is usually farmed. If you have wild-caught salmon from the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, Lake Vänern or Lake Vättern, children, young people and pregnant or breastfeeding women should eat it no more than a few times a year, because it can contain dioxins and PCBs.

Soup left in the pot must be kept really hot, above 60 degrees, or eaten up. When it cools below about 50–55 degrees, bacteria can start to grow.

Over a fire on snow, the ground under the embers melts and the pot can start to tilt. Set the grate or tripod on a proper fire pit or on stones instead, and check that the pot is stable before pouring in the stock. More about lighting fires safely in fire safety in nature, and about fire bans in lighting fires outdoors – rules.

If someone burns themselves: rinse the skin with cool water straight away, but for no longer than a quarter of an hour – after that the risk of hypothermia increases, and out in the cold it happens fast. Never use snow or ice on a burn. Don't remove clothing that has stuck to the skin. Seek medical care if blisters form over an area larger than the person's own hand, if the burn is on the face or hands, or if the child is one year old or younger.

Allergens: the soup contains fish and milk (cream and butter). Some stock cubes contain celery or gluten, so read the packet if anyone has an allergy.

Salmon soup with children

Children can snip the dill with scissors straight into a mug, count out eight allspice berries and hunt for bones in the salmon pieces at home with tweezers. At the fire an older child can put the salmon pieces into the pot with a ladle, with an adult beside them.

Let the children's portion sit in the cup for a minute before they eat, and put the cup on a stump or a sit mat rather than in their lap. More about cooking with children at the fire in cooking with children over a fire, and about keeping the little ones warm through a winter day in winter camping with kids.

Common mistakes

Adding the salmon too early – it cooks apart into small strands.
The soup boils hard after the cream has gone in – milk can split and the salmon falls apart.
Potato pieces too big – they take forever to soften over the fire on a cold day.
Both a stock cube and the full amount of salt – taste first, the stock is already salty.
The pot sits in the middle of the embers when the salmon should be simmering – move it out to the edge.

Vary the soup

With perch from the ice: swap the salmon for fillets from your ice fishing and let them simmer for 3–4 minutes. How to gut and fillet the catch is explained in fried perch over an open fire, and how to stay safe on the ice in ice safety with kids.
Without cream: finish cooking the soup in the stock and stir in a knob of butter at the end. It's lighter and works just as well in a flask.
Dairy-free: swap the cream and butter for oat cream and rapeseed oil.
With hot-smoked salmon: add pieces of hot-smoked salmon at the very end and just let them warm through, so they don't dry out.
Salmon on the grill instead: if you'd rather have the salmon whole, there's salmon grilled in foil over an open fire.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between salmon soup and lohikeitto?

None. Lohikeitto is the Finnish name for the same soup: salmon, potatoes, carrot and leek or onion in a stock with allspice, finished with cream or milk and plenty of dill. Finland even has its own fish soup day, on a Tuesday in February.

Can you use frozen salmon?

Yes. Put the frozen pieces straight into the soup, let it come back to a simmer and allow 8–10 minutes instead of 4–5. Check that even the thickest pieces are opaque in the middle.

Why does the salmon go in last?

Salmon is tender and cooks in a few minutes. If it boils with the potatoes, it falls apart and turns dry. Let it simmer at the edge of the embers, not boil in the middle of them.

Can you take salmon soup in a flask?

You can, but the salmon falls apart in the flask and the soup becomes more like a creamy fish soup. Fill a preheated flask with piping-hot soup and eat it within a few hours. If the soup has gone lukewarm by the time you open the flask, the safest thing is not to eat it.

What do you do with the leftovers at winter camp?

Let the leftovers cool quickly in an airtight tub out in the cold – that works when it's a few degrees above freezing or colder. Then heat the soup until it boils before you eat it again. If it has sat lukewarm for a long time, the safest thing is not to keep it.

What do you drink with them?

Water or warm cordial by the fire. For dessert, a cup of warm warm bilberry soup from its own flask is just right.