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Swiss Potato Soup

A hearty soup of potatoes and turnips simmered in water, finished with butter, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Swiss Potato Soup

Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Swiss Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine potatoes, turnips, and water in a large pot.

  2. Boil for 5 to 6 hours until the mixture is completely dissolved and has a pea‑soup consistency. If the soup boils away too quickly, add boiling water as needed.

  3. Once thickened, stir in butter, pepper, and salt.

  4. If desired, add a small piece of salt pork, a bone, lamb, veal, or a small onion for extra flavor.

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 + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Potato + turniptop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together562 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  4. Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,358 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Break down during long boiling to thicken the soup into a smooth, pea-soup texture.
Turnips
Add body and a mildly sweet, earthy flavor as they soften during the long simmer.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Keep the soup simmering with enough liquid. Over 5 to 6 hours the water can evaporate faster than expected, which would scorch the bottom and stop the vegetables breaking down. Adding boiling water, rather than cold, keeps the simmer steady and the texture even.

Swap the turnip

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Onionfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Turnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, pepper, pork. 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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