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Potato Soup

A hearty soup made with potatoes, onions, salt pork, water, butter, cream or milk, and a beaten egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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. Peel and slice the potatoes, then soak the sliced potatoes in cold water for 30 minutes.

Cook the soup

  1. Combine the soaked potatoes, chopped onions, salt pork, and water in a large pot.

  2. Boil for 45 minutes, stirring often.

  3. Stir in the butter and cream or milk mixed with the beaten egg.

  4. Bring the soup to a final boil.

  5. Serve.

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 + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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

Mealy potatoes
Break down during boiling to thicken the soup and give it a creamy body.
Salt pork
Renders fat and seasoning into the broth, adding savory depth.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the finished soup.
Egg
Enriches and thickens the cream mixture, giving the soup a silkier body.

The step that matters

Stir in the cream and egg mixture. Egg proteins can curdle or scramble if the mixture boils hard after it is added. Keep the soup at a gentle heat once the egg goes in, so it stays smooth and thickens lightly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pork, butter, cream, egg, 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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