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Tapioca Soup

A soup made with leeks, potatoes, tapioca, milk, sugar, water, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and potato work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Tapioca Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the tapioca in the milk for 3 to 4 hours.

  2. Boil the leeks and potatoes in the water until soft.

  3. Run them through a colander.

Make the soup

  1. Bring the soup to a boil.

  2. Add the other ingredients.

  3. Add a small piece of butter.

  4. Boil for 15 minutes.

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. Leek + potatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Leek + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together848 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Tapioca
Its starch swells in the milk and thickens the soup as it heats.
Potatoes
They break down when boiled, adding body and thickness to the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness to the soup.
Leek
Adds a mild, onion-like aroma and flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Loaf sugar
Adds gentle sweetness that balances the savory leek and potato.

The step that matters

Boil for 15 minutes. Tapioca starch only thickens fully once it is heated enough to swell and cook through. Milk-based soups can also scorch on the bottom of the pan if the heat is too high, so keep the boil steady rather than aggressive.

Swap the leek

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, sugar, 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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