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Soup

Flour Soup

A soup made with beef fat, flour, onions, water, milk, mashed potato, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓

Flour Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the onions and flour

  1. Fry the onions in the beef fat until light brown.

  2. Remove the onions and press out the fat.

  3. Cook the flour in the same fat until it turns yellow.

  4. Gradually add the water.

  5. Return the onions to the pot.

  6. Let it stand for a while.

Finish the soup

  1. Add the milk and mashed potato.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

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.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef fat
Carries the onion flavour and provides the fat for cooking the flour and onions.
Flour
Thickens the liquid as its starch swells with heat.
Onions
Soften and brown, adding savoury depth and a touch of sweetness to the soup.
Water
Forms the main liquid that the cooked flour thickens.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the finished soup.
Mashed potato
Adds body and extra starch, thickening the soup further.

The step that matters

Gradually add the water.. Adding liquid slowly to the hot flour and fat lets the starch disperse evenly, which helps prevent lumps and gives a smooth, thickened base.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, milk, potato, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, milk, potato, pepper. 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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