Finnish Salmon Soup (Lohikeitto)
Lohikeitto Say it: LOH-hee-kay-toh
Lohikeitto is Finland's beloved salmon soup, a one-pot bowl of potatoes and leek simmered in light fish broth, with cubes of salmon poached gently at the end and a pour of cream to turn the broth silky and pale coral. It is everyday food — a quick weeknight dinner, a cottage lunch, a warm bowl after a cold walk — and it appears on restaurant menus and home tables year-round. The flavour is mild and clean: sweet allspice, sharp dill, tender fish. Rye bread is the usual companion.
Finnish Salmon Soup (Lohikeitto)
Lohikeitto
Pronounced LOH-hee-kay-toh
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Level
- Easy
Also nut-free and egg-free.
Allergens: contains fish, milk. Check labels on packaged ingredients.
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
Soup
Method
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leek and onion with a pinch of salt and sweat, stirring now and then, for 6–8 minutes until soft and translucent but not browned.
Add the potatoes, fish stock, crushed white peppercorns, allspice berries and bay leaf. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 12–15 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender when pierced with a knife and still hold their shape.
While the potatoes cook, run your fingers over the salmon to check for pin bones, then cut it into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes and keep it cold.
Slide the salmon into the barely simmering soup and poach for 4–5 minutes, without stirring much, until the fish just turns opaque and flakes at the edges — it should not boil hard or it will break apart.
Stir in the cream and warm through for 2–3 minutes over low heat, without letting the soup come back to a boil.
Fish out the bay leaf and allspice berries, season with salt, and stir in most of the dill. Ladle into deep bowls, scatter with the remaining dill and a little white pepper, and serve at once.
Regional variant: Smoked Salmon Soup (Savulohikeitto)
Use 8 oz (225 g) fresh salmon instead of a full pound, and add 7 oz (200 g) flaked hot-smoked salmon off the heat at the very end, letting it warm through for 2 minutes only. Reduce the cream to 3/4 cup (180 ml) and skip the salt until you have tasted it, since smoked fish is already salty. The broth turns smoky and deeper in colour, and the fresh salmon cubes stay soft against the firmer flakes of smoked fish.
Cook's notes
- Keep the soup below a simmer once the salmon and cream go in — hard boiling toughens the fish and can make the cream split.
- Waxy potatoes are essential; floury ones crumble and cloud the broth.
- Crush the white peppercorns rather than grinding them fine, so they perfume the broth without making it hot.
Serve with
Dark rye bread (ruisleipä) with butter, or crispbread, and cold water or a light lager.
Make ahead and storage
Best eaten the day it is made. The potato and leek base can be cooked a day ahead and chilled; reheat it gently and add the salmon and cream fresh. Leftovers keep 1 day in the fridge.
