Name: Senegalese Apple Soup
Ingredients: 1 1/4 lb onions peeled, chopped; 1/2 lb Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and chopped; 1 cup chopped carrots; 1/4 cup raisins; 1 garlic clove minced; 2 tbl butter or margarine; 3 tbl curry powder; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 2 qt fat-skimmed chicken broth; 1/2 cup whipping cream (optional); Salt to taste; Freshly-ground black pepper to taste; Major Grey chutney to taste

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,774 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Curry powder: Provides the main spiced aroma that defines the soup's flavour.
Flour: Thickens the broth so the blended soup has body.
Onions: Soften into a sweet, savoury base that gives the soup depth.
Apples: Break down during simmering to add sweetness and fruity body.
Carrots: Soften and blend smooth, adding sweetness and thickness.
Chicken broth: Forms the liquid base that cooks and carries the other ingredients.

The step that matters

Blend in portions until very smooth. Blending hot soup in small batches keeps the blender from overfilling and steam from forcing the lid off. A fully smooth texture depends on the vegetables being fully tender before blending, so the carrots must be cooked through first.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, carrot, raisin, garlic, clove, butter, flour):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Figfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, raisin, garlic, clove, butter, flour. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Senegalese Apple Soup