Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Barley Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the barley
Put a quarter of a cup of well washed barley with a bay leaf and a small blade of mace into a pint and a half of cold water.
Boil slowly for three hours.
Take out the bay leaf and mace.
Add a small onion cut fine, two French carrots cut in dice, and cook until tender.
Finish the soup
Add a pint of milk, a good heaping tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to taste, and let it come to a boil.
Remove from the fire.
Stir in one egg yolk beaten with two tablespoonfuls of cream.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Barley | 1 cup cooked (157g) | 193 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Carrot | 1 medium (61g) | 25 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Bay Leaf | 1 leaf (0.6g) | 2 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Mace | 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.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
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 + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Barley + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Barley + peppertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Barley + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together598 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
-
Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Barley
- Its starch softens during long simmering and thickens the broth into a hearty body.
- Milk
- Adds richness and a creamy, mellow body to the broth.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the soup gently into a smooth, silky texture when stirred in off the heat.
- Carrots
- Soften during cooking and add natural sweetness and color to the soup.
- Cream
- Adds fat that makes the finished soup richer and smoother.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolk. Egg yolk proteins set at around 65 to 70°C, so adding it to boiling soup can scramble it into specks. Removing the pan from the heat first and stirring steadily gives a smooth, thickened result.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, barley, milk, carrot, egg, pepper):
- Nutmegfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, barley, milk, carrot, egg, pepper. 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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