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Soup

Turnip Boršč

A Belarusian soup made with beef or veal bones, beetroot, potatoes, turnips, onion, carrot, tomato paste, pork fat or margarine, vinegar, sour cream, spices, salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Beetroot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 336 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Turnip Boršč

Ingredients

Directions

Make the borscht

  1. Add cubed potatoes and turnips to bone stock and boil until half done.

  2. Ten minutes before the borscht is done, add boiled and shredded beet.

  3. Also add onion and carrots sautéed in pork fat or margarine.

  4. Add tomato paste, spices, sugar, vinegar, and salt.

  5. Cook over a slow fire until it is done.

Serve

  1. Before serving, season the borscht with sour cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

983Calories
78 gProtein
42 gFat
72 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Turnip1 medium (122g)34
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Vealnot in our table0
Beetrootnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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.

  1. Beetroot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together336 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  4. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beetroot + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together699 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef or veal bones
Give the stock its body and savory flavor.
Beetroot
Provides the deep red color and earthy sweetness of the soup.
Potatoes
Add starch that thickens the soup slightly and gives it body.
Turnips
Add a mild, slightly peppery vegetable base that softens as it cooks.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated acidity, depth and a richer red tone.
Sour cream
Adds creamy richness and a tangy finish when stirred in at the end.

The step that matters

Add the beet ten minutes before the end. Beetroot colors the whole soup and turns it muddy if cooked too long, so adding it late keeps the color bright and the beet tender but not overcooked.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, beetroot, potato, turnip, onion, carrot, pork):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, beetroot, potato, turnip, onion, carrot, pork. 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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