Name: Potato Soup
Ingredients: 6-7 potatoes, cut up; 1 quart water; 2 onions, chopped; 1 teaspoon celery seed; 1 small piece of pork (or butter); milk, to thin

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 ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the potatoes, onions, and celery seed in water until soft.
If using, add the piece of pork or butter.
Mash the mixture through a colander.
Thin the soup to the desired consistency with milk.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,668 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Potato + milktop 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: Starch that breaks down when cooked and mashed, giving the soup its body and thickness.
Onions: Cook down during boiling to add savory sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Celery seed: Adds a warm, herbal aroma that flavors the whole pot.
Pork or butter: Adds fat, which carries flavor and gives the soup a richer mouthfeel.
Milk: Adds creaminess and softens the texture when stirred into the mashed soup.