Why it works: Parsley and celery 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
Prepare the potatoes
Peel and chop the potatoes.
Boil the potatoes in 1 quart of cold water.
Drain the potatoes when they are half done.
Cover the potatoes with 1 pint of fresh boiling water.
Add the bay leaf, onion, parsley, and celery to the pot.
Boil slowly until the potatoes are tender.
Make the thickened milk
Heat the milk in a double boiler.
Rub the butter and flour together in a bowl.
Add the butter-flour mixture to the hot milk and stir until thickened.
Combine and serve
Press the tender potatoes through a sieve with the cooking water.
Gradually add the thickened milk to the potato mixture.
Return the mixture to heat.
Serve immediately.
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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Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 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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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 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
- Starch that breaks down when pressed through a sieve, giving the soup body and a smooth texture.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base of the soup and carries the flavour of the aromatics.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk as it heats with the butter, giving the soup a fuller body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and coats the flour so it blends smoothly into the milk.
The step that matters
Add the butter-flour mixture to the hot milk and stir until thickened. Flour lumps if dropped into hot liquid without being blended with fat first, and starch only thickens fully once the mixture is heated and stirred. Stirring keeps the sauce smooth.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, parsley, celery, butter, flour, pepper):
- Carrotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, parsley, celery, butter, flour, 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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