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Potato Bisque

A creamy potato soup made with milk, butter, flour, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Bisque

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potato base

  1. Cook the potatoes in boiling water until done.

  2. Rub the cooked potatoes through a strainer.

Make the soup

  1. Scald the milk with the onion slices.

  2. Remove the onion slices.

  3. Add the strained potatoes to the milk.

  4. Melt the butter in a pan, then stir in the flour and salt until well mixed.

  5. Add the butter mixture to the soup.

  6. Cook for 1 minute.

Serve

  1. Garnish with chopped parsley.

  2. Serve.

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.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. 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
Cooked and strained, they give the bisque its smooth, thick body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base and adds creaminess and mild sweetness.
Butter
Carries flavor and, with flour, helps thicken the soup through a roux.
Flour
Thickens the butter mixture so it helps give the soup body.

The step that matters

Adding the butter-flour mixture to the soup. Flour must be cooked briefly in melted butter and mixed well before adding. Stirring it in smoothly and simmering gelatinizes the starch, which thickens the soup evenly and prevents lumps.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, butter, flour, parsley):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, butter, flour, parsley. 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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