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 ↓
Sour Soup with Dry Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Pick over, wash and presoak (in tepid water) the beans, the night before.
Set the beans to boil. After the initial boil, change the water. Set the beans to boil again in tepid water. Repeat this procedure three times.
Cook the soup
To the last water, besides the beans, add onion, carrot, parsley root and salt. Cover the pot and let boil until the beans are tender.
Remove the vegetables and add a mixture made by fried flour in oil, boiled borsh (to taste) and chopped parsley and dill. Let boil for a couple of minutes more.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Carrot | 1 medium (61g) | 25 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Dill | 5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried | 4 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Bean | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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).
-
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Parsley + dilltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together669 recipes
Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).
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Lemon + dilltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together976 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Carrot + dilltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together321 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
- Dry beans
- Form the body of the soup, becoming tender and thickening the broth as they cook.
- Flour
- Fried in oil to form a roux that lightly thickens the soup.
- Borsh
- Provides the sour acidity that defines this soup.
The step that matters
Changing the water on the beans. Presoaking and repeated boiling in fresh water help remove compounds that cause bitterness and gas from the beans, and make them cook more evenly. Skipping the changes can leave the soup tasting harsher.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, carrot, parsley, flour, lemon, dill):
- Parsnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, carrot, parsley, flour, lemon, dill. 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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