Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the potatoes with the salt pork and celery until tender.
Pass the mixture through a colander.
Add milk or cream and butter to achieve a thick cream consistency.
Stir in the chopped parsley.
Let it boil for five minutes.
If desired, chop the onions and boil them with the soup.
Fry the bread and serve
Fry the bread dice in hot lard until brown.
Drain the fried bread.
Place the fried bread in the bottom of a soup tureen.
Pour the soup over the fried bread.
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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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Break down into a thick, smooth body when passed through a colander.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the soup a thick cream consistency.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the creamy base.
- Dry bread
- Fries to a crisp, browned texture that holds up under the hot soup.
The step that matters
Fry the bread dice until brown. Bread that is undercooked stays soft and pale, while over-browned bread turns bitter. Frying in hot lard browns the surface through the Maillard reaction, giving flavour and a crisp bite that lasts once the soup is poured over.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pork, celery, milk, butter, parsley, bread):
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pork, celery, milk, butter, parsley, bread. 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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