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Cabbage and Potato Soup

A hearty soup made with boiled cabbage, potatoes, milk, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cabbage and Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Peel the potatoes, cover them with boiling water, and cook until tender, about 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the water and mash the potatoes until fine and light.

Make the soup

  1. Add the minced cabbage, butter or other fat, and seasoning.

  2. Slowly add the hot milk or milk and water, and bring to a boil.

  3. For a thinner soup, increase the amount of milk or milk and water.

  4. Optionally, add finely chopped onion cooked in a little water for extra flavor.

  5. Optionally, serve with grated cheese.

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.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Cabbage + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together275 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Cooked and mashed, they give the soup its body and creamy, thick texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base, adding moisture, richness and a creamy texture.
Cabbage
Adds vegetable flavor and a little texture to the mashed potato base.
Butter or other fat
Adds richness and carries flavor through the soup.

The step that matters

Slowly add the hot milk. Adding hot milk gradually to the mashed potatoes helps it blend smoothly. Adding it all at once or cold can leave lumps and uneven texture.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, potato, milk, butter. 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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