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Cream of Potato Soup

A creamy potato soup made with milk, butter, flour, and seasonings.

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

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream of Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cook three potatoes, then rub them through a strainer.

  2. Scald one quart milk with two slices onion, remove the onion, and add the milk to the potatoes.

  3. Cream three tablespoons butter, two tablespoons flour, a little pepper, one-fourth teaspoon celery salt, one and one-half teaspoons salt, chopped parsley, and cayenne; add to the soup and cook fifteen minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

886Calories
26 gProtein
21 gFat
148 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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 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. See the original page.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the body of the soup and thicken it as they are puréed.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and makes the soup smooth and creamy.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the soup.
Flour
Starch that thickens the soup as it cooks.

The step that matters

Adding the butter and flour mixture to the soup. Flour clumps when dropped into liquid, so it should be creamed with the butter and blended evenly. Cooking for fifteen minutes lets the starch swell and thicken the soup and cooks out the raw flour taste.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

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