Potato and leek soup over an open fire – a smooth soup without a blender

Floury potatoes, rinsed leek and a potato masher instead of a blender

4 servings
Time: 15 min at home + 40 min over the fire
Difficulty: Easy
12 ingredients
9 steps

Photo: cyclonebill, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

It is January and the fire pit sits on a point by the lake. Someone has brushed the snow off the bench, the first logs have stopped smoking and the pot is on the grate with the butter starting to sizzle. In go the leek rings, and the sweet smell of softening onion mixes with the smoke. The children have each been given a potato masher to look after.

Potato and leek soup is one of the most forgiving soups you can cook over a fire. It needs no unusual ingredients, it is happy to stand and wait, and it turns out smooth without electricity if you choose the right potatoes. It is vegetarian at heart, and anyone who wants meat can fry bacon or sausage in a pan alongside. Here is how to make it with most of the prep done at home and the fun part by the fire.

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At home or by the fire?

At home. The most important job is done at the kitchen sink: the leeks. The soil sits between the layers, deep inside where you cannot see it, and it crunches between your teeth in a finished soup. Cut off the root and the tough, dark green top. Halve the leeks lengthways, rinse them under running water and fan through the layers with your thumb. Then slice them into half-moons. There is rarely running water at the fire pit, and melting snow for rinsing water takes both wood and time. Chop the onion at the same time and put everything in the same bag.

Sliced leek and onion can happily freeze in the rucksack. They are going to be cooked soft anyway, and frozen vegetables can go straight into the pot. The potatoes, on the other hand, must not freeze, as they turn soft and watery when they thaw. Take them whole and unpeeled, packed in the middle of the rucksack or wrapped in a wool jumper in the pulk, and peel and cut them by the fire. The cream also goes in the middle of the pack, in a small leakproof bottle.

Measure out the herbs and put the stock cubes in a small tub. Bring the water hot in a flask, a little more than a litre, so the pot comes to the boil much faster and there is a splash left over for thinning. If you are cooking the soup at winter camp and water is short, see melting snow for water.

By the fire. There you soften, boil, mash and season. It takes about 40 minutes once the fire has burnt down to embers.

Short trip? Make the whole soup at home, blend it smooth and take it in a preheated food flask. How to get the flask to keep the heat best is explained in cooking outdoors in winter. The fire is then only used for the bacon and the bread.

Why the potato decides the texture

A floury potato has a lot of starch and almost dissolves when it is boiled. It mashes into a velvety soup with nothing more than a potato masher, and it thickens the soup so you do not need to add flour. A waxy potato keeps its shape and gives a thinner soup with chunks in it. Both are good to eat, but it is the floury kind that lets you manage without a blender outdoors.

If you blend at home, just run the stick blender until the leek is finely chopped. A lot of floury potato in a small amount of liquid can turn gluey if it is blended for a long time, and a thick soup is easier to thin than to rescue.

Potato soup also thickens as it cools, and you notice that in the cold. Soup that was just right in the pot can be like mash in the cup after five minutes at a windy fire pit. Serve smaller portions and top up, rather than letting a big portion go cold.

Tips for soup in sub-zero temperatures

Hot water from home. A litre of cold water takes a long time to come to the boil over a fire. Hot water from the flask saves a quarter of an hour and quite a lot of wood.
Thin with hot water, never with snow. A mashed potato soup thickens while you eat. A couple of decilitres of cold water, or a handful of snow, lowers the temperature of the whole pot in the cold. Save a splash of hot water in the flask for that.
Cream last. Stir it in once the pot has been moved out towards the edge, so that it does not boil hard, and keep the bottle in the middle of the pack so that it does not cool the soup down.
The fat sets. Bacon fat sets hard quickly in the cold. Wipe out the frying pan with kitchen roll while it is still warm, and take the paper home with you.

Safety at the pot

Mashing is the most dangerous step, because a potato masher pushed down into hot soup splashes. Lift the pot off first and stand it on a flat stone, not directly in the snow where it can sink and tilt as the snow melts underneath. An adult holds the handle with a fire glove, and the child mashes with slow presses and their sleeves pulled down over their hands.

Mashed potato soup is thick and holds its heat for a long time. Fill the children's cups halfway and let them eat sitting down. If someone gets burnt, cool the burn with cool water from a bottle, never with snow or ice, and for no longer than a quarter of an hour so the child does not get chilled. Seek medical care straight away if the burn is on the face, hands or feet, is larger than the child's palm with blisters, or if the child is one year old or younger, and call 1177 (the Swedish healthcare advice line) if you are unsure.

More about the fire itself is in fire safety in nature, and check that there is no fire ban where you are, see lighting fires outdoors.

Leftovers and keeping it hot

Food that is being kept hot should stay above 60 degrees, as some bacteria can start to grow from around 50–55 degrees. So a potato soup that has gone lukewarm in the flask or in a pot by a fire that has gone out should be eaten straight away, or brought back to a proper boil. It does not get saved.

Leftovers can happily cool outdoors, because the cold does the job: a pot with more than half a litre of soup can cool outside when it is a few degrees above freezing or colder. Leave it with the lid on, and pour it into an airtight container for the fridge or freezer when you get home.

Allergens

The soup contains milk in the butter and the cream. Swap to rapeseed oil and oat cream, and it becomes both dairy-free and vegan. Check the stock cubes too: many contain celery, which is one of the 14 allergens, and some contain milk or wheat. Croutons and bread usually contain gluten.

Potato and leek soup with children

The leeks are a good job for children while you are still at home. Let them fan through the layers under the tap and look for soil – it becomes a little treasure hunt. By the fire they can snip chives with scissors straight over the bowls, scatter croutons and season with salt.

The mashing is the highlight. With a long-handled potato masher, even a younger child can mash the soup smooth, with the pot on the stone and an adult at the handle. An adult takes charge of the frying pan with the hot bacon. More ideas for what children can do at the fire in cooking with children over a fire.

Common mistakes

The leek is not rinsed between the layers – the soup crunches with soil.
Waxy potatoes instead of floury – the soup is thin and will not mash smooth.
The leek browns in the butter – the soup turns brownish and slightly bitter.
The pot stays in the middle of the embers once the soup has thickened – it burns onto the bottom.
The thick soup is thinned with snow or cold water – it turns lukewarm at once.
The child mashes while the pot is still on the grate – the soup splashes and the pot can tip over.

Vary the soup

With bacon or sausage: fry it in the pan alongside and add it on top, so that anyone who wants to can eat the soup vegetarian. Sausage works especially well, see the best falukorv sausage.
With cheese: grate a little mature hard cheese over each bowl. It melts into the hot soup.
With root vegetables: swap some of the potato for carrot or parsnip for a sweeter soup.
With fish: if the soup is to have salmon or other fish in it, a thinner, stock-based soup works better than a mashed one, see salmon soup over an open fire.
Autumn's cousin: the same method works with pumpkin, see pumpkin soup over an open fire.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get the grit out of leeks?

Cut off the root and the dark green top, halve the leek lengthways and rinse it under running water while you fan through the layers. The soil usually sits furthest in, where the green turns to white. Do it at home, where there is running water.

Do you have to blend potato and leek soup?

No. With floury potatoes that have cooked really soft, a potato masher or a sturdy whisk is enough for a smooth, creamy soup. If you want it completely smooth, blend it at home and heat it by the fire or take it in a flask.

Which part of the leek do you use?

The white and the pale green part. The dark green top is tough and stringy, but it can be saved in the freezer and simmered into stock another day.

Is potato and leek soup the same thing as vichyssoise?

Almost. Vichyssoise is a French potato and leek soup that is sieved completely smooth and usually served cold, with chives on top. At a winter fire, it is the hot version that counts.

Can you freeze potato and leek soup?

Yes, especially if it has been blended. Let it cool quickly and freeze it in portions. Soup with whole potato pieces can get a slightly different, more mealy texture after freezing, but it tastes the same.

What goes with the soup?

Bread for dipping is the obvious choice. Bake a frying-pan bread in the pan while the soup simmers, and let the children finish off with warm apple juice in their cups.