Lohikeitto (Finnish salmon soup)
45 min · 38 g protein · 519 cals / serving
Finland's favourite soup: big pieces of salmon poached at the last minute in a creamy broth with potatoes, leek and carrot, scented with allspice and bay and finished with a fistful of dill. Here the broth is mostly milk with just a splash of cream, so it stays silky and pale pink while the salmon stays the star.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 large leek, white and light green part, sliced
- 4 medium carrots, sliced
- 1 1/4 lb gold potatoes, waxy, peeled, in 2 cm (3/4-inch) cubes
- 3 3/4 cups fish stock
- 8 whole allspice berries ground allspice
- 2 bay leaves bay leaf
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups 1% milk, 1 % fat
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 lb 2 oz salmon, farmed Atlantic salmon fillet, skinless and boneless, in 3 cm (1 1/4-inch) pieces
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
- a pinch white pepper
Steps
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat and soften the onion and leek for 4–5 minutes without letting them colour.
- Add the carrot, potatoes, fish stock, allspice, bay leaves and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partly covered, for 12–15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender.
- Pour in the milk and cream and bring the soup back to a bare simmer. Do not let it boil hard from here on, or the milk can split.
- Slide in the salmon, turn the heat to low and poach for 4–5 minutes, until the pieces are opaque and flake at the centre (145°F). Stir gently, only once, so they stay whole.
- Fish out the bay leaves and allspice berries if you can find them, stir in most of the dill and the white pepper, and taste for salt. Serve in deep bowls with the rest of the dill on top.
Good to know
What is served with it in Finland?
Dark rye bread with butter. A thin slice on the side keeps the soup as the meal.
Can I use wild salmon?
Yes. Farmed Atlantic salmon is what most Finns buy and what this soup is built on; wild salmon is leaner, so the broth comes out a little lighter and less silky: a score of about 75 instead of 68. It also dries out faster, so poach it for a minute less.
Can I make it ahead?
Make the soup up to the end of step 3 and chill it. Reheat to a simmer and poach the salmon just before serving, because reheated salmon turns dry and breaks up.
Per
- Calories
- 76
- Protein
- (30%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (38%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (32%)
- 6 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 163 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2077 kcal goes into the pot and 2909 g of ingredients comes out as about 2720 g of food: 76 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.