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Potato Soup

A creamy potato soup made with milk, cream, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Potato Soup

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Cook the diced potatoes in boiling water until tender.

  2. Drain and mash the potatoes.

  3. Add the heated milk and cream to the mashed potatoes.

  4. Beat in the eggs until well combined.

Thicken and serve

  1. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, until thickened like soft custard.

  2. Add the salt and pepper, then strain the soup.

  3. Serve hot with wafers.

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

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

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when heated, thickening the soup into a soft custard-like texture.
Potatoes
Starch that mashes smooth and gives the soup its body.
Milk
Liquid base that carries the potatoes and adds richness and mild sweetness.
Cream
Adds fat for a smoother, richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture over low heat while stirring. Egg proteins thicken gently at moderate heat but scramble if overheated, leaving lumps. Constant stirring and low heat keep the soup smooth and custard-like.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, cream, 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.

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