Why it works: Celery and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,047 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Wash and peel the potatoes, then soak them in cold water for about 1 hour.
Put the potatoes into boiling water and cook until very soft.
Drain the water from the potatoes and mash them thoroughly.
Make the soup
Boil the milk in a double boiler.
Add the boiling milk and seasonings to the mashed potatoes.
Rub the mixture through a strainer and bring it back to a boil.
Rub the flour into the butter and stir it into the soup, letting it boil for 5 minutes.
If the soup is too thick, add more boiling milk.
Serve very hot.
Variations
Optionally, omit celery salt and add 1 tablespoon of parsley, chopped fresh celery, or grated onion.
For a richer soup, use 1 pint of milk and 1 pint of cream, and stir in 2 well-beaten eggs after removing from the stove.
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.
-
Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide the starchy body that mashes and thickens into the soup.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid base and creamy, smooth texture of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and smooths the texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as it boils, giving it body.
The step that matters
Rub the flour into the butter and stir it into the soup. Mixing flour with fat first coats the grains so they disperse without lumps. Boiling for the full 5 minutes lets the starch swell and thicken the soup fully.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, butter, potato):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, butter, potato. 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
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 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.