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Cream of Potato Soup

A creamy soup made from mashed potatoes, milk, cream or butter, and seasoned with salt, onion juice, pepper, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cream of Potato Soup

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 ↓

Cream of Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Wash and peel the potatoes.

  2. Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender.

  3. Drain and mash the potatoes or pass them through a potato ricer.

  4. Add salt, onion juice, and pepper to the potatoes.

Make the soup

  1. Gradually stir in the milk and cream (or butter) while mixing.

  2. Cook in a double boiler for 20 minutes.

  3. Before serving, stir in the well-beaten egg yolks.

  4. Serve hot, garnished with croutons or crackers.

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.

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

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy body that gives the soup its thick, smooth texture.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base and adds richness and mild sweetness.
Cream
Adds fat for a richer, silkier mouthfeel and a fuller flavour.
Egg yolks
Thicken the soup gently and add richness when stirred in before serving.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolks before serving. Egg yolks begin to set and can curdle or scramble if the soup is too hot or boils after they are added. Keeping the soup hot but not boiling, and stirring steadily, lets them thicken it smoothly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, cream, pepper, 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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