Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Cream of Potato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the potato base
Boil the potatoes in water over low heat until soft, about 2 hours.
Mash the potatoes in the water and strain to yield 1 pint of liquid.
Add the milk to the potato liquid and return to the heat.
Thicken and finish
Rub the butter and flour together, adding a little milk and stirring until smooth.
Add the butter-flour mixture to the boiling soup and stir until creamy.
Add salt to taste.
Place the egg yolk and chopped parsley in a serving bowl, then pour in the hot soup, stir gently, and serve immediately.
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 + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 gives the soup its body and creamy texture.
- Milk
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy liquid base for the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup when cooked with butter and stirred into the hot liquid.
- Butter
- Adds fat for smoothness and rich flavor, and helps bind the flour.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the soup, giving a silkier, creamier finish.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolk to the soup. The yolk should be warmed gently by the hot soup and stirred in slowly. Pouring the yolk into very hot soup or letting it boil can scramble it, leaving bits of cooked egg instead of a smooth, creamy finish.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, milk, butter, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Capersfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, milk, butter, flour. 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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