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 ↓
Potato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Boil the shank of beef for two days, then strain the liquid into a crock and let it stand.
Remove the fat that rises to the top before making the soup.
Make the soup
Heat 2 tablespoons of beef fat in a soup pot and fry the sliced onions until brown.
Add half of the beef stock to the pot.
Stir in the mashed potatoes until the soup reaches the thickness of thick cream.
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.
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Onion + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,827 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Onion and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,827 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
- Mashed potatoes
- Thickens the soup to a creamy consistency as their starch absorbs liquid.
- Onions
- Browning in the fat builds sweetness and savoury depth as they caramelise.
- Beef fat
- Carries the heat for frying the onions and adds rich, meaty flavour.
- Beef stock
- Provides the main liquid and beefy flavour of the soup.
The step that matters
Frying the onions until brown. Onions need enough heat and time for their sugars to caramelise and turn brown; stopping early leaves a raw, sharp taste, while overcooking them can scorch and turn bitter.
“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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