Kartoflanka: Polish potato soup on bacon, thickened with the potatoes alone
A soup from what every Polish kitchen holds in November: potatoes, root vegetables, onion, a piece of bacon, marjoram and sour cream. It thickens without flour: some of the cooked potatoes are crushed against the side of the pot and their starch does the rest. Six bowls for a few coins, as filling as a dinner, even better the next day.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Chopping 15 min
- Soup simmering 25 min
- Thickening and cream 10 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCut the vegetables
Peel the potatoes and cut into 1.5 cm cubes. Cut the carrot, parsley root and celeriac into smaller dice, about 7 mm, so they cook in the same time. Chop the onion, dice the bacon finely.
Ingredients: 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs carrot · 1 pcs parsley root · 1 pcs celeriac, a piece · 1 pcs onion · 100 g smoked bacon · 1500 ml vegetable or chicken stock · 2 pcs bay leaves · 4 pcs allspice berries · 1 tbsp dried marjoram · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
TipFloury potatoes break down and thicken the soup; waxy ones hold their shape and the soup comes out thin. Check the label: floury or 'for mash' is the right kind.
Potatoes larger, root vegetables finerRender the bacon, soften the onion
In the pot over low heat render the bacon 5 minutes, until golden and crisp. Set half the crisp bits aside on a plate for the top. Soften the onion in the remaining fat 4 minutes.
TipFor the meat-free version use butter instead of bacon, and half a teaspoon of smoked paprika with the onion for a smoky note.
Bacon golden, half set asideCook
Add the potatoes and root vegetables to the pot, stir through the fat, pour in the stock, add the bay leaves, allspice, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer covered 25 minutes, until the potatoes are completely tender and starting to break at the edges.
Twenty-five minutes, potatoes tenderThicken with the potatoes
Remove the bay leaves and allspice. With the back of a spoon or a masher crush about a third of the potatoes against the side of the pot, a few strokes, and stir. The soup thickens at once and turns creamy while the rest of the potatoes stay in cubes. Too thick? Add boiling water.
TipThis is thickening with potato starch, no flour and no roux. Don't blend the whole pot: kartoflanka should be thick but chunky, not a purée.
A third crushed, the rest in cubesSour cream and marjoram
Temper the sour cream: mix with 2 ladles of hot soup, pour into the pot and heat another 2 minutes, stirring, without letting it boil — 18% sour cream can split. Crush the marjoram between your palms over the pot, stir in, taste and add salt. Take off the heat.
Ingredients: 100 g sour cream, 18 % · ½ bunch dill or flat-leaf parsley
TipMarjoram at the end, not the start: cooked long it loses its aroma and turns bitter. Crushed between the palms it releases its oils; straight from the packet into the pot it is like hay.
Tempered sour cream, marjoram from the palmsServe
Into bowls, topped with the reserved bacon and dill. With bread. Keeps 3 days in the fridge and thickens; reheat with a splash of water.
Bacon and dill on top
Before you start
With sausage
200 g sliced smoked sausage fried with the onion instead of the bacon, or alongside: the soup becomes a full dinner.
With dried mushrooms
3 dried mushrooms soaked and sliced, cooked with the potatoes along with their soaking water: a deeper, forest version for autumn.
Soup too thin
Crush more potatoes, or simmer 5 minutes uncovered. Last resort: a teaspoon of potato starch stirred into cold water, boiled for a minute.
