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Parsnip Soup

A soup made from parsnip, potato, onion, butter, pepper, salt, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the parsnip, potato, and onion into small pieces.

  2. Cook the vegetables in water until tender.

Finish the soup

  1. Rub the cooked vegetables through a sieve into a saucepan.

  2. Add butter, pepper, and salt to the mixture.

  3. Stir in enough milk to achieve the desired soup consistency.

  4. Bring the soup to a boil and serve.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Parsnip + potatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together353 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Parsnip + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,054 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Parsnip
Provides the main body and sweet, earthy flavour of the soup.
Potato
Adds starch that thickens the soup and gives it a smooth, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a rounder, smoother mouthfeel.
Milk
Loosens the puree to the desired consistency and adds creaminess.

The step that matters

Rub the cooked vegetables through a sieve. The vegetables must be fully tender before straining, or the puree will be grainy and hard to push through. Pressing them smooth gives the soup its even texture.

Swap the parsnip

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Parsnipthe original

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