Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Bouillon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a large pot, combine water and meat with bone.
Add chopped carrots, turnips, and other vegetables.
Season with salt and add roasted onions.
Simmer and strain
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for several hours.
Strain the broth if desired, but keep the vegetables for added nutrition.
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 + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + carrottop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,905 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat with bone
- Bones and meat release collagen and flavor into the water, giving the broth body and richness.
- Water
- Acts as the solvent that draws flavor and gelatin out of the meat, bones and vegetables.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
- Turnips
- Contribute mild sweetness and an earthy background flavor.
- Roasted onions
- Browning during roasting adds deeper color and sweet, savory flavor to the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer gently instead of boiling hard. Vigorous boiling agitates fat and fine particles into the liquid, making the broth cloudy and greasy. A gentle simmer lets them rise and settle so the broth stays clearer and cleaner tasting.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, carrot, turnip):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, carrot, turnip. 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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