Why it works: Celery and parsley 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 ↓
12 Potato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the potatoes with the salt pork and celery until tender.
Pass the mixture through a colander.
Add milk or cream to achieve a thick cream consistency, along with a little butter if using milk.
Chop the parsley finely and stir it in.
Chop the onions (if desired) and boil them with the soup.
Let it boil for 5 minutes.
Prepare the croutons and serve
Cut the dry bread into small dice.
Fry the diced bread in hot lard until brown.
Drain the fried bread.
Place the fried bread in the bottom of a soup tureen.
Pour the soup over the fried bread.
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.
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.
-
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 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
- Break down when boiled and thicken the soup into a smooth body.
- Milk or cream
- Adds richness and creaminess, giving the soup a smooth, thick texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and a rounded richness to the milk-based soup.
- Dry bread
- Fried until brown, it adds crisp texture and toasted flavor against the soft soup.
- Lard
- Fat for frying the bread, carrying heat to brown it and add savory flavor.
- Onions
- Boiled in the soup, they add sweetness and aromatic depth.
The step that matters
Frying the bread until brown. Bread must be fried in hot lard until browned but not burnt. Pale or soggy croutons lose their crunch once the soup is poured over them, and over-browning makes them bitter.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pork, milk, butter, parsley, bread, onion):
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits better
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pork, milk, butter, parsley, bread, onion. 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.
More potato soup recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.