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Potage Parmentier

A creamy potato and onion soup seasoned with nutmeg, butter, and cream.

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

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 ↓

Potage Parmentier

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Peel the potatoes and place them in a saucepan with the onions and about 3 pints of cold water.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook for about 35 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.

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

Finish and serve

  1. Return to the heat, add salt, pepper, and butter.

  2. When boiling, stir in the cream.

  3. Serve immediately with croutons.

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Potatoes
Break down into starch to give the soup its thick, smooth body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, rounding out the flavor and mouthfeel.
Cream or rich milk
Adds fat and richness, giving a smoother, silkier finish.
Onions
Provide sweetness and aromatic flavor as they soften in the broth.

The step that matters

Pass the mixture through a sieve. Straining only works well when the vegetables are fully tender, since firm pieces will not press through and the soup stays grainy.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, nutmeg, cream, pepper, 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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