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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made with potatoes, onions, celery, butter, water, milk, and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

Make the base

  1. Slice the potatoes, onions, and celery.

  2. Fry them in butter until light brown.

  3. Add the water and boil for 30 minutes.

  4. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the milk and cream, and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Reheat and serve.

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 while boiling and thicken the soup through their starch, giving body.
Butter
Carries flavor and gently browns the vegetables before the liquid goes in.
Onions
Frying until light brown builds sweet, savory aroma in the base.
Celery
Adds a fresh, herbal aroma that stands out in the finished soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sieved soup.
Milk
Thins the thick purée and adds creaminess without heavy richness.

The step that matters

Reheat gently after adding the milk and cream. Dairy can curdle, scorch, or separate when it boils hard. Once the milk and cream are in, heat the soup gently until hot and avoid a rolling boil.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

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