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Soup

Milk Soup

A simple soup of potatoes, onion, butter, water, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Milk Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel, wash, and slice the potatoes and onion.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, and butter.

  3. Stir the mixture over medium heat until the vegetables are softened.

Simmer and finish

  1. Add the water and bring to a boil.

  2. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

  3. Stir in the milk and heat through before serving.

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.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide starch that thickens the soup and gives it body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps soften the vegetables without browning them.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Stir in the milk and heat through without boiling. Milk can curdle or scorch when it is boiled hard, so it should be added at the end and warmed gently until hot.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Leekfits about as well

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