Name: Potato Soup with Raviolis
Ingredients: 2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced; 4 cups water or broth; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste; Savoury herbs, to taste; 1 cup all-purpose flour; Water, as needed for paste; 1 egg, beaten (for sealing raviolis); Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Soup with Raviolis

Ingredients

Directions

In a pot, combine potatoes and water or broth. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until potatoes are tender.
To make the raviolis, mix flour with enough water to form a paste. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Prepare a filling with minced chicken or veal, seasoned with salt, pepper, and herbs. Shape into small balls.
Roll the paste thinly and cut into small rounds. Place a ball of filling on each round.
Dampen the edges with beaten egg, cover with another round of paste, and press edges to seal.
Cut out the raviolis and cook them in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes.
Drain the raviolis and add them to the soup just before serving. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

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.

Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Potato + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together572 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,355 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour, egg, parmesan cheese):

Spinachfits better
Asparagusfits better
Capsicumfits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, egg, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.