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Potato Leek Soup

A soup made from leeks, potatoes, stock, and olive oil, blended smooth and seasoned with pepper.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and leek work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim the roots and tough greens off the leeks, split them and clean thoroughly, then chop crosswise into 1/4 strips.

  2. Cube the potatoes into 1/2" blocks, cover with water, cook until soft, drain, reserving the water to make bread.

Make the soup

  1. In a large stock pot, use sufficient olive oil and cook the leeks gently until soft; add the potatoes.

  2. Grate white pepper, add stock to cover, and bring to a simmer.

  3. Ladle stock and potatoes into a blender and blend until smooth. This will take several passes unless you have a monsterblender.

Adjust and add options

  1. Balance leeks and potatoes according to taste.

  2. Adjust stock to desired strength and consistency.

  3. Add onions like leeks if desired.

  4. Add celery leaves if desired.

  5. Add celery root as a substitute for potatoes, cooking it for less time.

  6. Add fennel or anise if desired.

  7. Add milk or cream if desired.

  8. Adjust seasoning or consistency with salt, pepper, and reserved potato water.

Serve

  1. Serve cold with dollops of yogurt and white pepper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

950Calories
50 gProtein
19 gFat
144 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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 + leektop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Potato + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,458 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

  4. Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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

Leeks
Soften gently in oil to build a sweet, mild onion-like base for the soup.
Potatoes
Their starch thickens the soup and gives it a smooth, creamy body when blended.
Stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavor of the whole soup.
Olive oil
Carries flavor into the leeks and helps them cook evenly without sticking.

The step that matters

Cook the leeks gently until soft. Low, gentle heat softens the leeks and draws out their natural sweetness. High heat browns them, which adds bitter, toasted notes that change the soup's flavor.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, potato, bread, leek, olive, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, potato, bread, leek, olive, pepper. 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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