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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made with potatoes, onions, celery, butter, stock, milk, and sago.

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

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash, peel, and slice the potatoes and onions.

  2. Wash and slice the celery.

Make the soup

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the vegetables.

  2. Cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then simmer until the vegetables are tender.

  4. Rub the mixture through a sieve or colander back into the saucepan.

  5. Stir in the milk and sago, and simmer until clear.

  6. Season to taste.

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 + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  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

Potatoes
Break down when simmered and rubbed through a sieve, giving the soup its body and thickness.
Sago
Thickens the liquid as it simmers, becoming clear when fully cooked.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the soup's flavor.
Butter
Fat that softens the vegetables and carries flavor into the soup.

The step that matters

Simmering the sago until clear. Sago is a starch that thickens only when it is fully hydrated and cooked through. Stopping early leaves the soup cloudy and thin, while simmering too hard after adding the milk can scorch it on the base of the pan.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

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