Name: Saltibarsciai I
Ingredients: vegetable broth; beets; vinegar; sugar; sour cream or buttermilk; salt to taste; potatoes, cooked, chilled and diced; cucumbers, seeded and diced; fresh dill, for garnish

Why it works: Cucumber and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 530 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Saltibarsciai I

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare an all-purpose vegetable broth by boiling assorted vegetables, herbs/spices (such as bay and peppercorns) in lightly salted water.
Use celery and carrot tops, onion root ends, and other vegetables left over from preparing other dishes.
Boil beets in broth until soft.
Remove beets from water.
Peel and grate the beets coarsely.
Strain broth.
Add vinegar, sugar and sour cream or buttermilk to the beet water.
Adjust the amount of salt needed at this time.
Return beets to the broth.
Chill well.
To serve, place chilled diced potatoes and diced, seeded cucumbers in soup bowls.
Pour soup over the potatoes and cucumbers.
Garnish with dill (fresh, chopped or dried).
Category:Lithuanian Vegetarian
Category:Beet Soup Recipes
Category:Vegetable broth Recipes
Category:Buttermilk Recipes
Category:Cucumber Recipes
Category:Potato Recipes
Category:Sour Cream Recipes
Category:Dill Recipes
Category:Recipes that need photos

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

561Calories

33 gProtein

9 gFat

90 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 10 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beet	1/2 cup (85g)	35
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	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).

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.

Cucumber + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together530 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,734 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Potato + cucumbertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together481 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cream, cucumber, dill):

Mustardfits better
Horseradishfits better
Beetrootfits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cream, cucumber, dill. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.