🇫🇮 Finland
LohikeittoFinnish salmon soup
The Finnish salmon soup: chunks of salmon and potato cooked with onion or leek (and often carrot) in a fish stock or milk base, enriched with cream or butter and finished with dill.
Origin and history
Lohikeitto is a standard meal on Finnish dinner tables and restaurant menus, and Visit Finland's tourism pages present it as a diamond of Finnish cuisine. It is defined by salmon, potato and dill, with a cream-free Kainuu version thickened with rye flour. The sources give no dated origin.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 to 6 servings
- Total time
- 45 min
- Hands-on
- 25 min
Ingredients
- 1 litre4 1/4 cups fish stock, or water with fish stock concentrate
- 10 allspice berries
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion or leek, chopped
- 1 carrot, optional, diced
- 500 g1.1 lb potatoes, peeled, in 2 cm (3/4 in) cubes
- 400 g14 oz salmon fillet, skinned, pin bones removed, in 2 cm (3/4 in) cubes
- 20 g1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 200 ml3/4 cup cream
- 1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
- salt and white pepper, to taste
- rye bread, to serve
Method
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1. Bring the stock, allspice and bay leaves to a boil in a large pot.
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2. Add the onion and carrot and simmer for 5 minutes.
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3. Add the potatoes and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, until they break easily when pressed.
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4. Stir in the butter and take the pot off the heat.
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5. Slide in the salmon cubes and let them poach in the hot broth, off the heat, for 5 to 10 minutes, until just opaque.
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6. Pour in the cream, add most of the dill, and season with salt and pepper.
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7. Serve at once, scattered with the remaining dill, with rye bread.
Notes
- The salmon goes in last off the heat, so it stays tender and does not break up.
- The Kainuu version leaves out the cream; the butter is stirred with a little rye flour first and the broth is thickened with it.
- Home recipes in Finland often use fish stock powder or cubes; the creamy version can also be made with a stock from fish bones.
- Remove the allspice and bay leaves before serving, or warn guests.
- Best eaten the same day; reheat gently.
Adapted from Yle, lohikeitto recipe and Finland.fi, Northern Finnish recipes.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.