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Economical Soup

A simple vegetable soup with potatoes, onion, celery, tomatoes, sweet pepper, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Economical Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the diced potatoes, chopped onion, chopped celery, chopped tomatoes, and chopped sweet pepper in a large pot.

  2. Cover the vegetables with 1 quart of salted water and bring to a boil.

Cook and finish

  1. Cook until the vegetables are tender.

  2. Stir in 1 pint of milk and 1 tablespoon of butter before serving.

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 + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  5. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Starch that softens as it cooks, thickening the broth and giving the soup body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Tomatoes
Contribute acidity and flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Cook until the vegetables are tender. Vegetables must be fully softened before the milk is added. Starchy potatoes release starch as they cook, and undercooked pieces stay firm and taste raw. Adding milk to a boiling broth can cause it to curdle, so stir it in before serving rather than letting it boil.

Swap the onion

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

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

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