Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
In a stew kettle, combine turnips, onion, carrot, parsley, celery, rice, and water.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
Place over low heat and bring to a boil, reducing the liquid by half.
Strain and serve
Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve.
Serve hot with a hard biscuit or dry toast.
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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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turnips
- Give the soup its body and mild sweet flavour as they soften in the water.
- Rice
- Adds body and thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during simmering.
- Onion
- Adds savory depth and aroma as it softens and flavours the broth.
- Carrot
- Contributes natural sweetness and colour to the broth.
The step that matters
Reducing the liquid by half over low heat. Boiling too hard or for too long can scorch the solids on the base of the kettle and over-concentrate the flavour. Gentle heat lets the vegetables release flavour and starch evenly, giving a smooth, well-balanced strained soup.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, carrot, parsley, celery, rice):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, carrot, parsley, celery, rice. 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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