Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the potatoes until cooked, then rub them through a colander into the boiling milk.
Add the dried vegetables, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Stir in the butter.
Beat the egg with a little cold milk, then stir it in quickly and remove from the stove.
Serve
Serve with fried bread.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Provide starch and body, thickening the milk into a smooth, creamy soup when pressed through.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and adds creaminess and mild sweetness.
- Egg
- Thickens the soup slightly as it cooks, adding richness and body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg. Egg proteins set with heat and can curdle into lumps if the soup is too hot or stirred slowly. Beating the egg with cold milk and stirring quickly disperses it evenly before it sets, which is why the pot comes off the stove right after.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper, butter, egg, bread):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Tomatofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper, butter, egg, bread. 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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