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Peanut Soup

A soup made from blanched peanuts, onion, celery, stock, milk, butter, flour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Norton, Caroline Trask · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Peanut Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cook two cups of shelled and blanched peanuts with a slice of onion and a stalk of celery until tender.

  2. Mash the mixture through a sieve.

  3. Stir in a pint of white stock and one pint of hot milk or thin cream.

  4. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter with one tablespoonful of flour, one-half teaspoonful of salt, and a little pepper, then stir into the soup.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

756Calories
23 gProtein
21 gFat
118 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Celery1 stalk (40g)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.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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.

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

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Peanuts (in the method)
Form the body of the soup and give it its main nutty flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked with the melted butter.
Milk
Adds creaminess and smoothness to the soup.

The step that matters

Stirring in the butter and flour mixture. Cooking flour in fat before adding it helps prevent lumps and gives a smooth, evenly thickened soup. Stirring steadily as it goes in keeps it from clumping.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, onion, flour. 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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