Why it works: Rice and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,379 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Turkey Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the soup
Cut the turkey into small pieces and add it to the stock.
Simmer slowly until the bones are clean.
Remove the bones and strain the soup through a sieve.
Once cool, skim off the fat.
Thicken and serve
Mix the rice flour or arrowroot with a little soup to make a batter.
Add the batter, seasoning, and sauce to the soup.
Bring to a boil and serve.
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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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,636 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Turkey + ricetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together135 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Rice + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,396 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Turkey + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together531 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice flour or arrowroot
- Thickens the soup into a smooth, lightly body-rich broth when heated.
- Harvey's sauce or mushroom ketchup
- Adds savoury depth and a dark, umami-rich flavour to the broth.
- Remains of a cold roast turkey
- Provides the meat that flavours the soup as it simmers in the stock.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour into a batter before adding it. Starch clumps if stirred straight into hot liquid. Mixing it first with a little cool soup gives a smooth slurry that thickens evenly once heated.
“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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