Name: Purée of Carrots
Ingredients: 1 large carrot; 1 red onion; 2-3 tomatoes; clear stock (made from bones or shin of beef); beef dripping; 1 French roll; salt; pepper; fried croutons

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Purée of Carrots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

Grate the carrot and finely chop the red onion.
Skin the tomatoes and add all to a covered pot with a little beef dripping.

Cook and finish

Stew until thoroughly cooked.
Stir the mixture into heated stock and skim off excess fat.
Season well and crumble the French roll into the soup.
Bring to a boil and serve over fried croutons.

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.

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.

Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 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

Carrot: Adds body, mild sweetness and colour to the soup base.
Red onion: Builds savoury depth as it softens during stewing.
Tomatoes: Contribute acidity and moisture that help form the soup's base.
French roll: Crumbled into the soup, it thickens the liquid by absorbing it.
Beef dripping: Carries flavour and fat that helps soften the vegetables while stewing.

The step that matters

Stew until thoroughly cooked. The vegetables must soften fully before being combined with the stock, since undercooked carrot and onion stay firm and taste raw. Thorough stewing breaks down cell walls so the purée is smooth and the flavours blend.