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Soup

Leek and Potato Soup

A soup made with leeks, potatoes, butter, chicken stock, cream, salt, and pepper.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and potato 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 ↓

Leek and Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry leeks and potatoes gently in butter in a covered saucepan, stirring often for about 20 minutes, then add stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

  2. Stir in stock, salt, and pepper and simmer for 5 additional minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

529Calories
37 gProtein
21 gFat
49 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Leek + potatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30 recipes

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

  2. Potato + chickentop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  5. Leek + chickentop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Leeks
Soften during gentle frying to give the soup a mild, sweet onion-like flavour.
Potatoes
Break down while simmering, thickening the soup and giving it a smooth, creamy body.
Butter
Fat for gentle frying, carrying flavour and helping the leeks soften without browning.
Chicken stock
Liquid that cooks the vegetables and forms the body of the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Frying leeks and potatoes gently in butter. Covering the pan and keeping the heat low softens the vegetables in their own steam and fat. Browning them would add a different, toastier flavour and could scorch the butter before the stock is added.

Swap the leek

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

  1. Onionfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, chicken, cream, 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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