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Potato Soup Maigre

A simple potato soup made with potatoes, onion, water, butter, cayenne pepper, salt, and heavy cream.

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 ↓

Potato Soup Maigre

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the potatoes and onion.

Cook and finish

  1. Boil them in 3 pints of water until tender.

  2. Pulp the mixture through a colander.

  3. Stir in the butter, cayenne pepper, and salt.

  4. Just before serving, add the heavy cream and do not allow to boil.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Break down when boiled and pulped, giving the soup its body and thick texture.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer mouthfeel and rounder flavour.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and smoothness, enriching the soup's texture and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Adding the heavy cream. Cream can curdle or separate if it boils. Adding it just before serving, off the boil, keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Onionthe original
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, pepper, cream. 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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