Wtf is wrong with me I mess up every simple recipe I try :(

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Just cooked leek & potato soup for lunch, normally my favourite when someone else has made it How hard can it be, I'm an intelligent adult, yet it looks like mud and tastes bland at best. Feel so useless I mess up everything. Someone tell me what can I possibly have done wrong with such a simple recipe please?!

Did you follow a recipe or make it up yourself?

Did you fry off the leeks before adding water and the potato?

A leek and potato soup relies on having good, flavoursome leeks, potatoes and a decent stock. Where did you get your veg from? Some supermarket stuff can be pretty bland, especially potatoes.

Did you season it properly? You don't want to be able to taste the salt in the dish, but you need to add enough that it does actually cause a change in the flavour of the dish, otherwise you might as well not bother. With pepper, I like my food quite peppery, so like to be able to taste the pepper a bit.

Don't be so down on yourself, everyone gets it wrong sometimes. Quite often it's the simpler recipes that trip up because you pay less attention and if you're me you assume you can do it and get a bit cocky

I think it sounds slightly overcooked. what colour were you aiming for? I use the green of the leeks and like a green thick soup, with bacon and maybe a poached egg. The recipe is from BBC food.

What stock do you use? I use bullion and that usually makes for good seasoning, and fry the leeks, pots and onion first and add a splash of cream at the end.

I find that leek and potato soup tastes so much better if you sweat the leeks slowly for a good ten minutes before adding the potatoes and stock.

OP, I can't make soup. Well, thanks to mumsnet I have cracked chicken soup (boil carcass and add... Chicken soup mix, so not the purist recipe but it is delicious). I can also make parsnip soup. Can't make anything else. Don't know why, have tried lots of times, lots of recipes... It just doesn't work for me! Chin up...

Thanks for your replies all, I feel silly getting so down about a bit of failed soup but I just have a bit of a reputation for being a rubbish cook and so it seems each thing I do right no one notices but each mess up highlights my rubbishness

I used a recipe I found after googling 'simple leek & potato soup' but it didn't use onions and I didn't season much in case the DDs didn't like it so that's two points already I will learn from. Was aiming for nice thick green pregnantpause, instead got sort of murky brown!

Lots of useful tips, will cheer up and try again tomorrow :)

I made it yesterday for the first time and it was lovely. I gently fried the leeks with a clove of garlic for 10 mins before adding the stock.
When I reheated some later on I stirred in some finely grated cheddar. It was really nice. I didn't have cream so I just used milk but it was fine.

Op I am known amongst friends and family as the most amazing curry chef, but I haven't made a curry since the turkey curry I made on boxing day that was so disgusting we ended up ordering takeaway. It was a Nigel Slater recipe too so I was atleast expecting it to be edible.

If you are not vegetarian, my Dmum makes the best potato soup by adding a couple of rashers of finely diced bacon Or some bits of chicken, maybe leftover from a roast, would probably work equally well

May have been a dodgy recipe, many are rubbish IMO!
For a reliable source of recipes you could try using the bbcgoodfood.com website and only using recipes with 4-5 stars such as this one

Thanks for the link Chewbacca, I've got veggies left so I'll try that one instead. Like the sound of bacon too, yum.

MotherOfNations DH has never let me forget the mushroom curry I cooked him when we were first setting up home together, half a bottle of ketchup couldn't make it edible. To be fair to him, it was revolting :(

Dd1 asked for seconds of my mud soup though, that cheered me up bit then she does dip marmite toast in her yoghurt

I never put onions in leek and potato soup, or cream.

I slowly sweat some leeks in butter for at least ten minutes, add some peeled and chopped potatoes and some chicken stock - I use those Knorr stock pots which are excellent. I leave it to cook for about 20 minutes and use my stick blender to partially blend the soup as I like a bit of texture. And that is it - no onions or garlic, no cream or any other embellishments, and it tastes lovely.

Buy Delia Smith, I always say she write for people who can't cook.

Before you actually start cooking have everything measured out in little bowls, on saucers just as if you are a TV chef.