Name: Rabbit Soup
Ingredients: 1 rabbit, cut into small pieces; 3 quarts water; 1.5 pounds mutton chops; 2 large carrots, grated; 4 large onions, minced; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon white pepper; 2 tablespoons flour; a little milk

Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Rabbit Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rabbit

Soak the rabbit in salt water overnight, then wash it well and soak briefly in lukewarm water to whiten.

Make the soup

In a pot, cover the rabbit with 3 quarts of water and boil slowly for 1 hour.
Add the mutton chops, grated carrots, minced onions, salt, and white pepper to the pot.
Boil for another hour.
Thicken the soup with 2 tablespoons of flour mixed with a little milk.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,292 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Carrot + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,029 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rabbit + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,067 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit: Provides the main meat and flavor base of the soup.
Mutton chops: Add meaty richness and savory depth to the broth.
Onions: Contribute savory sweetness and aroma as they cook down.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness and body to the broth.
Flour: Thickens the soup as its starch swells with heat.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, mutton, carrot, onion, flour, milk):

Turmericfits better
Celeryfits better
Parsleyfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, mutton, carrot, onion, flour, milk. 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.