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Potato Soup

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

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

  1. Boil the milk with the onion and celery.

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

  3. Drain the potatoes, then mash them until fine and light.

Make the soup

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

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

Finish in the tureen

  1. For an improvement, add whipped cream to the soup in the tureen.

  2. If using, place a well-beaten egg in the tureen before straining the soup into it.

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
Starch that mashes into the body of the soup and gives it a thick, smooth texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base and adds creamy richness and mild sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat for a rounder flavour and a silkier mouthfeel.
Onion
Contributes savoury aroma that flavours the milk as it boils.
Whipped cream
Adds fat and lightness, making the soup richer and more luxurious.
Egg
Sets when heated, thickening the soup slightly and enriching its body.

The step that matters

Straining the soup into the tureen with the egg. Egg proteins set when heated, so hot soup poured in too quickly can scramble the egg. Pouring slowly and stirring gradually warms the egg so the soup stays smooth and lightly thickened.

Swap the celery

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

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

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