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Potato Soup

A hearty soup made with beef bones, vegetables, mashed potatoes, butter, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Potato Soup

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Combine the bones of beef or fresh meat with 1 gallon of water in a large pot.

  2. Add the sliced onions, carrots, turnips, salt, and pepper.

  3. Boil until the vegetables are soft.

  4. Stir in the mashed potatoes and mix well.

  5. If desired, remove some potatoes to keep the soup smooth.

  6. Return the pot to the heat.

  7. Stir constantly until heated through.

Serve

  1. Serve hot, garnished with chopped parsley and a little butter.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Thicken the broth and give the soup a creamy, body-rich texture.
Turnips
Add mild, slightly peppery flavor and soft body as they cook down.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and color while softening into the broth.
Onions
Build savory depth and aroma as they soften in the broth.
Bones of beef or fresh meat
Release gelatin and savory flavor into the water as it simmers.

The step that matters

Stir constantly until heated through. Once mashed potatoes are in, the starch settles and can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly and keeps the soup smooth rather than gluey or burnt.

Swap the turnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, carrot, pepper, potato, butter, parsley):

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Turnipthe original
  4. Parsnipfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, pepper, potato, butter, parsley. 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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