...Milky White? "My Potato Soup Fiasco"

As I enthusiastically welcomed the New Year, with visions of delectable potato soup prancing in my head, and excitement brimming over for my new holiday gift of "The Easy Potato Soup Cookbook," I was not prepared for the culinary mayhem about to rain down in my kitchen.

It was December 31st, and I was embarking on my annual tradition of "cooking something new," which I always like to do on those New Year's Eves in which I am "sans plans." How cozy. How fun, right? Well, um, how shall I say this?

For as adventurous and competent a cook as I have been for many years, and for as many wintery potato soups as I have concocted over those years, I actually had never made a "milk" based potato soup with flour. Now to be clear, this is totally on brand for me. I don't cook any items with flour. Cue cookies, bread, homemade pasta, etc. It's just never been my thing. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I just prefer the sizzle of that sautee pan.

Whichever the case, my "Potato Soup Forever" on page 39 was not a winner. And I take the blame. The ingredients of potatoes, turkey bacon, onions, and spices were simple enough. The only real skill required was just enabling the milk and flour mixture to dance (aka have that delicious consistency). Well, mine looked like milk. That's all. Just milk. Now full disclosure, I did have to fractionize all the ingredient amounts as the recipe in its original state would yield 16 servings. Wow, whopping! Way too much for me.

And therein was the culprit. I think I needed more flour. But after I realized the fiasco, and that my "thin milk" potato soup was sinking, I just didn't have the confidence to go about adding more flour and hoping for a "thick consistency" miracle. Truth be told, a part of me also thought, "Well, maybe it will still taste good, regardless of this milky bubbling mess perched abysmally on the stove before me." And you know what? It actually did taste good. (A shout-out to the turkey bacon on this one. You saved this meal!)

So, no more to say. Except I vow to try this recipe again, and I vow to master this fun little cookbook. I love potatoes! I will get this. This New World tuber heralding from my favorite part of the world (hey, hey Latin America!), whose popularity then spread far and wide to include the Old World of Europe, Asia, and beyond, will not conquer me. No, better luck next time!