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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made with mashed potatoes, milk, butter, flour, onions, celery, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Potato Soup

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Peel and mash the potatoes.

  2. In a pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  3. Add the chopped celery and onion, and sauté until soft.

Make the soup

  1. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

  2. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.

  3. Add the mashed potatoes, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and mix well.

  4. Heat through and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the main body and starch that thickens the soup as they break down.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that makes the soup creamy.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and carries the flavor of the sautéed vegetables.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth, body-rich base when cooked with the butter.

The step that matters

Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Adding milk all at once to the flour and butter can form lumps. Adding it slowly while stirring keeps the roux smooth, and the starch then thickens the milk evenly as it heats.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, onion, pepper, butter, flour):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, onion, pepper, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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