Cream of Potato Soup

~Sherry~'s Note:

This soup isn't like the potato soups you find in resturaunts. This is an old fashioned Cream of Potato soup. I got the orignal recipe in home ec. in high school. This soup is thick and hearty. Perfect for cold days or when you just want some comfort food. I've given alternate measurements for a smaller portion at the bottom of the recipe along with tips to make thinner and/or chunkier.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 7 tablespoons butter
• 7 tablespoons flour
• 1 ¾ teaspoons salt
• ¾ teaspoon pepper
• 7 cups milk
• 8 cups potatoes , diced and fully cooked
• cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Now before starting the soup I cook the potatoes. I put them in a colander to cool and drain while I get the soup boiling. I also smash the lightly. They will still be chunky but in a big mushy clump.
2. Melt butter in sauce pan (you'll need a big one) and remove from heat. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Mix with butter to form a paste.
3. Slowly add milk. I add about 1/8 cup and mix well with the flour until it's all blended. I do this a few times until the flour and milk are blended well and start to get thinned out. Then I add the rest of the milk.
4. Cook on med-high heat. STIR CONSTANTLY I really can't stress enough how important it is to stir constantly. If you don't the milk will burn. Bring to a boil.
5. Add potatoes a little at at time and stir well in between each addition. Return soup to boiling and you're done! My husband also like to add cheddar cheese to his bowl. You may need to add more salt or pepper depending on your tastes.
6. There are a lot of ways to change this up. You can just add the potatoes in diced if you want bigger bites of potato. My husband likes his soup thick and I find smashing the potatoes before adding to the soup helps thicken it. If you want your soup a little thinner you can add less potatoes or add more milk.
7. If this makes too much soup for you (it's enough to feed 4 as a meal) here is the original recipe: 4 T butter, 4 T flour, 1 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, 4 cups milk, 4 cups potatoes.
8. I originally doubled it but decided that was too thin so cut back on 1 of every thing except the potatoes. A guideline to follow is to remember for every cup of milk use 1 T butter, 1 T flour, 1/4 t salt, and 1/8 t pepper.

Reviews

[Travis H.]

I loved simple country style potato soup like this as a kid. This is very easy to make and you can easily add ingredients to your taste. I made the smaller size version of this exactly as listed. One bowl was normal, second bowl added bacon and cheddar. Both were very good and will make this again and again :) Thank you Sherry!

[~SarahBeth~]

This is a very good soup and it is very easy to prepare and to add to, which I like since we tend to like spicy. We added cayenne to this (just a little bit) and some diced ham. We really enjoyed this filling creamy soup! Thanks for posting! Made for Holiday Tag 2009!