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Parsnip Soup

A soup made from parsnip, potato, onions, butter, pepper, salt, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the parsnip, potato, and onions into small pieces.

Make the soup

  1. Cook the vegetables in water until tender.

  2. Rub the cooked vegetables through a sieve into a saucepan.

  3. Add butter and season with pepper and salt.

  4. Stir in enough milk to achieve desired soup consistency.

  5. Bring to a boil 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.

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. Parsnip + potatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together353 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  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. Parsnip + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,054 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Parsnip
Provides the main body and sweet, earthy flavor of the soup.
Potato
Adds starch that thickens the soup and gives it a smooth texture when sieved.
Onions
Contribute savory aromatic flavor that underpins the soup.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a silkier mouthfeel.
Milk
Loosens the puree and adds creaminess to reach the desired consistency.

The step that matters

Rubbing the cooked vegetables through a sieve. Vegetables must be fully tender before sieving, or the purée will be grainy and hard to press through. Pressing them through breaks down cell walls, which gives a smooth, even texture.

Swap the parsnip

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Parsnipthe 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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