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Potato Soup

A creamy soup of potatoes, onion, celery, butter, milk, and tapioca or sago.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Potato Soup

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 Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash, peel, and slice the potatoes, celery, and onion.

Cook the soup

  1. Melt the butter in a pot and add the vegetables, stirring to coat them without browning.

  2. Add the boiling water or stock, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for one hour until the vegetables are tender.

  3. Stir in the milk and crushed tapioca or sago 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.

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.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Break down during simmering to give the soup body and a thick, creamy texture.
Milk
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Tapioca or sago
Thickens the soup as it heats, giving it a silkier body.
Butter
Carries flavor from the vegetables and adds fat for a rounded, rich taste.

The step that matters

Coating the vegetables in butter without browning. Gentle heat keeps the vegetables sweet and mild. Browning adds roasted, bitter notes that change the soup's clean flavor and color.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, onion, 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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