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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made from boiled potatoes, celery, milk, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Potato Soup

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and finely chop the potatoes and celery.

Cook the vegetables

  1. Boil the chopped potatoes and celery in a little water until tender.

  2. Strain and mash the mixture.

Finish the soup

  1. In a pot, combine the mashed mixture with the reserved water and 1 quart of milk.

  2. Add butter, salt, and pepper to taste, and heat through.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 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

Potatoes
Provide starch that thickens the soup and gives it a smooth, body-rich texture when mashed.
Celery
Adds a fresh, savory aroma and subtle flavor base to the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and richness, softening the flavor and rounding out the soup.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Mashing the cooked vegetables. Mashing breaks down the starch cells of the potatoes so they release starch into the liquid, which thickens the soup. Leaving lumps or under-mashing gives a grainy texture, while over-working can make it gluey.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

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