Cheese Soup with Cold Smoked Reindeer

While we were in Saariselkä we sampled a wonderful cheese soup with cold smoked reindeer. When I asked what type of cheese was in the soup, I was told blue cheese. I jumped to the conclusion that there was a language error with blue cheese because I couldn't imagine a soup made from blue cheese.

Back in Turku I set out to recreate the cheese and reindeer soup we had enjoyed. I went to the reindeer stand at the kauppahalle and the young woman there gave me two cookbooks, Recipes for Cooking Reindeer-Meat and Poroa Kvyttä ja Herkullista. From the Poroa book I made the soup above. It is good, but not the soup I loved in Saariselkä. It has onion, parsnip, potato and a mild cheese like gruyere. The cold smoked reindeer is in the pellet form in the top picture.

But now the librarian at the Turun ammatti-instituutti has given me another recipe that calls for aura juustoa--a type of blue cheese named for the Aurajoki.

In case you want to make my first soup, here is the recipe:

Cold Smoked Reindeer Soup

3 dl* parsnip cubes
7 dl potato cubes
1 large onion

some oil

some black pepper

1,2 l water

1 beef bouillon cube

1 cup grated mild cheese like gruyere

100 grams of cold smoked reindeer

Saute the onion in the oil. Add the water, bouillon cube, potato and parsnips and cook until soft. Add the cheese and reindeer.

*1 dl is about half a cup, a little less really.