Name: Sopa De Funcho or Anise Soup
Ingredients: Neck Bones (Salt the day before) Or meat of your choice such as Beef.; 2 Sausage links of Chourico; White navy beans or Green split peas. About ½ to full bag (1 lb); Potatoes, diced.; Anise green or grass like called Fennell.; 1 Head of cabbage chopped up in small strips.

Why it works: Beans and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 655 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Sopa De Funcho or Anise Soup

Timeabout an hour, then about another hour

Ingredients

Neck Bones (Salt the day before) Or meat of your choice such as Beef.
2 Sausage links of Chourico
White navy beans or Green split peas. About ½ to full bag (1 lb)
Potatoes, diced.
Anise green or grass like called Fennell.
1 Head of cabbage chopped up in small strips.

Directions

Prepare the meat

Soak neck bones in salt the day before, then rinse well.
If using beef, do not soak it in salt overnight.

Cook the soup

Cook meats and split peas together for about an hour or until the meat is done.
When the meat is tender, add the fennel chopped very small and dice potatoes, and cook for about another hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

897Calories

73 gProtein

31 gFat

83 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 10 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Navy Bean	1/2 cup (91g) cooked	127
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Anise	not in our table	0
Grass	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.

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.

Beans + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beans + cabbagetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together290 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + cabbagetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together275 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + anisetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6 recipes

Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
Anise + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck bones: Provide the meat and rich flavor that give the soup its body.
White navy beans or green split peas: Break down during cooking to thicken the soup and add body.
Potatoes: Soften during cooking and add starch that adds body to the broth.
Fennel: Adds a distinct anise aroma that flavors the soup.

Swap the anise

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, beans, potato, cabbage):

Garlicfits better
Celeryfits better
Cuminfits better
Anisethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, beans, potato, cabbage. 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.

Potato Croquettes255 recipes

Potato Rolls78 recipes

Red Cabbage65 recipes

Stewed Cabbage58 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Sopa De Funcho or Anise Soup