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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made with boiled potatoes, milk, onion, celery, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Boil the milk with the onion and celery.

  2. Peel the potatoes and boil them for 30 minutes.

  3. Drain the water and mash the potatoes until fine and light.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the boiling milk and butter to the mashed potatoes, then season with pepper and salt.

  2. Rub the mixture through a strainer and serve immediately.

  3. Add whipped cream to the soup when serving, if desired.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starch that thickens the soup and gives it a body.
Milk
Supplies liquid and creaminess, giving the soup a smooth, rich texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a silkier mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a strainer. Mashed potatoes left lumpy or overworked can turn gluey or uneven. Pressing the soup through a strainer removes lumps and fibrous bits, producing a smooth texture. Serving promptly keeps it hot and at its best.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, onion, butter, pepper, cream. 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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