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Soup

Potato Soup

A creamy potato soup made by boiling potatoes, adding water, cream, butter, parsley, salt, and pepper.

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

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Boil the potatoes in water until almost done.

  2. Pour off the water and add 1 quart of fresh hot water.

  3. Boil until the potatoes are thoroughly dissolved.

  4. Replenish with boiling water as needed.

  5. Strain the soup through a colander.

Finish and serve

  1. Add ¾ cup hot cream or ½ cup boiling sweet milk with 2 teaspoons melted butter.

  2. Stir in 1 tablespoon parsley, salt, and pepper.

  3. Bring to a boil and serve.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Break down into starch that thickens the water into a smooth, body-rich soup.
Cream or sweet milk
Adds richness and a silky texture while softening the flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for a rounder, richer mouthfeel and flavor.

The step that matters

Boil until the potatoes are thoroughly dissolved. Potatoes must break down fully for the starch to thicken the liquid evenly. Undercooked pieces leave a grainy texture, and adding dairy to a boiling soup can cause it to curdle, so keep the dairy addition gentle.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter, parsley, pepper):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter, parsley, 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.

More potato soup recipes

Irish 12Sweet 9Cream 8Creamy 8Swiss 6Scotch 5 See all 473 →

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