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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made from mashed potatoes, butter, flour, onion, milk, parsley, and eggs, served with croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Potato Soup

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 Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Boil and mash three or four potatoes.

  2. Make a roux by melting one tablespoonful of butter, adding one half tablespoonful of flour, and one teaspoonful of chopped onion, cooking the onion in the butter for a few minutes before adding the flour.

  3. When the roux is cooked, add a pint of milk, making a thin white sauce.

  4. Add the sauce to the mashed potatoes and pass the mixture through a strainer.

  5. Return the strained mixture to the fire for a few minutes to heat and blend.

Finish and serve

  1. Season with salt and pepper.

  2. Sprinkle a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and a few croutons over the soup when it is in the tureen.

  3. If the soup is too thick, add a little more milk or a little hot water.

  4. To make the soup richer, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs just before serving.

  5. The soup may also be made of sweet potatoes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

990Calories
33 gProtein
26 gFat
155 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Their starch and body thicken the soup and give it a smooth, substantial texture.
Butter
Fat that carries flavour and, with flour, forms the roux that thickens the milk.
Flour
Starch that thickens the melted butter and milk into a smooth white sauce.
Milk
Liquid that turns the roux into a thin white sauce and adds richness.
Eggs
Yolks stirred in at the end enrich the soup and add body and a silkier texture.

The step that matters

Adding the flour to the roux. Flour must be cooked in the melted butter for a short time before the milk goes in. Undercooked flour tastes raw and thickens poorly, while overcooking the roux too long can cause it to darken and lose thickening power.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, parsley, potato, egg. 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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