Name: Potato and Celery Soup
Ingredients: 1 stalk celery 1 quart milk 1 onion tablespoonful butter pare potatoes; 1 quart milk 1 onion tablespoonful butter pare potatoes; 6 good sized potatoes 1 stalk celery 1 quart milk 1 onion tablespoonful butt; 1 onion tablespoonful butter pare potatoes; pepper; salt

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato and Celery Soup

Ingredients

1 stalk celery 1 quart milk 1 onion tablespoonful butter pare potatoes
1 quart milk 1 onion tablespoonful butter pare potatoes
6 good sized potatoes 1 stalk celery 1 quart milk 1 onion tablespoonful butt
1 onion tablespoonful butter pare potatoes
pepper
salt

Directions

Cook the vegetables

Peel the potatoes and add them to a pot with the celery, melt a tablespoonful of butter, and boil for 30 minutes.
Turn off the heat and mash lightly.
Boil the onion and celery in 1 quart of milk.

Finish and serve

Add the boiling milk to the potatoes, along with butter, pepper, and salt.
Rub through a strainer and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

468Calories

14 gProtein

20 gFat

62 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 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 Johnson, Vt. Congregational church. [from old catalog]. 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.

Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 break down.
Milk: Provides the liquid and creamy texture of the soup.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Onion: Adds savory aroma to the milk.
Celery: Adds a fresh, aromatic flavor to the soup.

Swap the celery

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

Garlicfits better
Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Celerythe original

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