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Potato and Celery Soup

A simple soup made with potatoes, celery, onion, milk, flour, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

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 ↓

Potato and Celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender.

  2. Chop the celery and onion.

  3. Drain the water from the potatoes.

  4. Mash the potatoes.

Make the soup

  1. Add the chopped celery and onion to the milk and simmer until tender.

  2. Add the mashed potatoes to the milk mixture.

  3. Mix the flour with a little water to make a sauce.

  4. Add the sauce to the soup.

  5. Simmer all together.

  6. Strain the soup.

Season

  1. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

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. 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. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Potatoes
Break down into the mash that gives the soup its body and thickness.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a sauce, giving the soup a smoother, heavier texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the vegetables and gives the soup richness.
Celery
Adds a fresh, mildly savory aroma and vegetable flavor to the soup.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth as it simmers in the milk.

The step that matters

Add the sauce to the soup. Flour mixed with water must be fully smooth before it goes in, because lumps of raw flour will not disperse once added. Simmering afterward cooks out the raw flour taste and lets the soup thicken evenly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, flour, celery, 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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