Best Ever Potato Soup
…Ought to be on the Ready List for Fall!
Fall does not always arrive with a calendar. Sometimes it simply shows up at the Galley door asking what is for lunch.

The beef stew was already bubbling away, which naturally led to the question of what else we could do with the same cool-weather mood. Deirdre looked at the potatoes. Rocket looked at the bacon. The rest of us wisely stayed out of the way.

This is one of those useful core recipes—simple enough to serve as written, but sturdy enough to head off in several directions. Leave out the bacon and change the broth for a vegetarian version. Use gluten-free flour or another thickener if that is what the table requires. Or go completely in the other direction and pile on bacon, cheddar, green onions and sour cream.

In other words, think of it as a baked potato that somehow discovered it could become soup.

Galley Method

Local Tips: Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until crisp. Remove and drain off most of the fat.
Add the potatoes, carrot, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, celery seed and broth. Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 10–15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Stir it gradually into the soup and bring it back to a gentle boil, stirring as it thickens. Give it about two minutes.

Add the cheese and cooked bacon and stir until the cheese has melted into the soup.

Then comes the part where nobody needs instructions. Ladle it into bowls and start adding whatever normally makes a baked potato worth eating—green onions, more bacon, shredded cheddar, sour cream, or all of the above.

Deirdre’s Galley Note: The recipe says six strips of bacon. Rocket regards that sort of precision as an opening bid.

With the beef stew on one burner and potato soup on the other, we may finally have to admit that Fall has arrived at Socotra House!

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com