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Sorrel Soup

A soup made with potato, onion, sorrel, butter, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Sorrel 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 ↓

Sorrel Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook the base

  1. Peel, wash, and chop the potato and onion.

  2. Boil the potato and onion in the water until tender.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve back into the saucepan.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the milk, sorrel, butter, and seasoning.

  2. Simmer gently for 10 minutes 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. Potato + sorreltop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together72 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potato
Starch that thickens the soup and gives it a smooth, full body when puréed.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness as its flavour base.
Sorrel
Provides a bright, sharp acidity that cuts through the richness.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavour and a silkier mouthfeel.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the soup's texture.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after adding the milk. Milk can scorch on the bottom of the pan or separate and curdle if it boils hard. A gentle simmer heats it evenly and keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

Swap the sorrel

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

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

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