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Cream of Potato Soup

A creamy soup made from potatoes, onions, white sauce, milk, egg yolk, and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Cream of Potato Soup

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 ↓

Cream of Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the vegetables

  1. Cover the potatoes and onions with cold water in a pot and bring the mixture to a boil.

  2. Cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Drain the potatoes and onions, then cover with boiling water until tender.

Make the soup

  1. Press the potatoes and onions through a potato masher to yield about 1 pint.

  2. Add the white sauce and milk.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Stir in the beaten egg yolk and cream.

  5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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, starchy body that gives the soup its creamy texture.
Onions
Add savory aromatic flavor that builds the soup's base.
White sauce
Adds body and richness, thickening the soup and softening its flavor.
Milk
Adds moisture and mild sweetness, keeping the soup smooth and creamy.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the soup when stirred in off the heat.
Cream
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens by gently coagulating when heated. If the soup is still boiling when it goes in, the yolk can scramble and curdle, leaving the texture grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, sauce, 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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