Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓
Sorrel Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel, wash, and cut up the potatoes and onion.
Make the soup
Boil in the water until tender, and rub through a sieve.
Return the mixture to the saucepan, add the milk, sorrel, butter, and seasoning.
Simmer gently for 10 minutes, then serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Sorrel | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + sorreltop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together72 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Onion + sorreltop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together459 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Milk + oniontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,418 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potato
- Cooks soft and, rubbed through a sieve, gives the soup its body and smooth texture.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness, softening the sharpness of the sorrel.
- Sorrel
- Provides the soup's characteristic sharp, acidic, lemony flavour.
- Onion
- Boiled with the potato, it adds a mild savoury aroma and background flavour.
The step that matters
Simmer gently after adding the milk. Milk proteins can curdle or separate if boiled hard, and sorrel's acidity increases this risk. A gentle simmer keeps the soup smooth and the sorrel's flavour fresh.
Swap the sorrel
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, potato, onion):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Celeryfits better
- Sorrelthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, onion. 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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