Why it works: Onion and potato 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 Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the broth
Boil the shank of beef for two days.
Strain the broth into a crock and let it stand until needed.
Remove the fat that rises to the top before making the soup.
Make the soup
In a soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the beef fat and fry the sliced onions until brown.
Add half of the beef stock to the pot.
Stir in the mashed potatoes until the mixture is as thick as thick cream.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
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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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 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
- Beef shank
- Long boiling builds a rich, gelatin-filled broth that gives the soup its body and flavor.
- Onions
- Frying until brown develops sweet, savory flavors through browning.
- Beef fat
- Frying the onions in it carries flavor and adds richness to the soup.
- Mashed potatoes
- Their starch thickens the broth, giving the soup a creamy texture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the mashed potatoes. Potato starch thickens quickly as it hydrates, so adding them gradually while stirring prevents lumps and keeps the texture smooth and even.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, pepper):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, 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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