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Potato Soup

A creamy soup made with milk, celery, onion, bay leaf, mashed potatoes, butter, salt, pepper, and thickened with cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Potato Soup

Why it works: Onion and potato 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

  1. In a double saucepan, combine the milk, celery, onion, and bay leaf.

  2. Bring to a boil, then strain the mixture.

  3. Stir in the mashed potatoes and butter.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Thicken with a little cornstarch and serve very hot.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base that gives the soup its body and creamy richness.
Mashed potatoes
Add starch and body, thickening the soup and giving it a smooth texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid when heated, giving the soup a silkier consistency.

The step that matters

Thicken with a little cornstarch. Cornstarch must be mixed with cold liquid or a little water before adding, and the soup must be heated to a simmer to thicken. Adding it dry or to a cold mixture causes clumps and an uneven texture.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, onion, potato, egg, 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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