Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Vermicelli Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
In a pot, combine the stock, onion, carrot, and turnip.
Bring to a boil and let it simmer for one hour.
Finish and serve
Remove the vegetables from the soup.
Serve the soup hot.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 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
- Stock
- Liquid base that carries the flavour of the whole soup.
- Onion
- Releases sweetness and aroma into the broth during long simmering.
- Carrot
- Adds gentle sweetness and body to the broth as it simmers.
- Turnip
- Contributes earthy flavour to the broth as it simmers.
- Vermicelli
- Thin noodles that add starch and soft texture to the soup.
The step that matters
Simmer gently for the full hour. A hard boil can cloud the broth and reduce it too quickly. A steady simmer draws flavour out of the vegetables slowly and keeps the stock clear.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip. 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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