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
Smash the beef or ham bones into fragments.
Add a small piece of lean ham for flavor.
Boil the bones and ham in water for at least 2.5 hours.
Strain the liquid carefully and discard the bones and ham debris.
Return the liquid to the pot and place it back on the heat.
Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes into small pieces.
Boil the potatoes in the stock until they dissolve.
Optionally, boil one or two onions with the bones for added flavor.
Strain the soup through a fine sieve and return it to the heat.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Optionally, add a stick of celery while boiling the bones for extra flavor.
Make only the quantity needed for the day, as potato soup is best freshly made.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, potato, celery, pepper):
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, potato, celery, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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