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 Puree
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrub the potatoes clean in cold water.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices.
Wash and peel the onion. Wash the celery.
Cook the vegetables
Melt the butter in a stewpan.
Add the sliced potatoes, onion, and celery to the stewpan.
Cook the vegetables over low heat for 5 minutes.
Pour in 1 pint of white stock and stir frequently to prevent burning.
Gently boil until the vegetables are fully cooked.
Make the puree
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a basin.
Press the vegetables through with a wooden spoon.
Add the remaining 1 pint of hot white stock gradually.
Return the puree to the stewpan.
Add salt to taste.
Add the cream.
Stir until it boils.
Serve in a hot soup tureen with fried croutons.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,047 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the puree, giving it body and a smooth, thick texture when pressed.
- Butter
- Fat that softens the vegetables gently and adds a rich flavour to the base.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished puree.
- White stock
- Liquid that cooks the vegetables and thins the puree to a soup-like consistency.
- Onion
- Adds savoury aroma and depth of flavour as it cooks down in the butter.
The step that matters
Stirring while the vegetables cook and adding stock. Starchy potatoes settle and scorch easily on the base of the pan over heat. Frequent stirring keeps them from burning, which would give a bitter, dark taste to the whole puree.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, cream, onion, bread):
- Garlicfits better
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, cream, onion, bread. 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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