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Soup

Milk Soup

A creamy soup made with milk, potatoes, tapioca, butter, and optional onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Milk Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine cold water and milk.

  2. Add the boiled and mashed potatoes and butter.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Stir in the tapioca and boil for 10 minutes.

  5. If desired, add an onion for extra flavor.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  3. Milk + potatotop 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. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Provides the creamy body and mild sweetness of the soup.
Potatoes
Add starch and body, thickening the soup and giving it a smooth, hearty texture.
Tapioca
Thickens the liquid as it boils, giving the soup its body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir in the tapioca and boil for 10 minutes. Tapioca must be stirred in well and kept at a boil long enough to fully hydrate and swell its starch. Undercooked tapioca stays grainy and can leave the soup thin or unevenly thickened.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, potato, butter):

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Leekfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, 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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