Name: Julienne, Soup H, LA
Ingredients: 1 pint carrots, diced; 1 pint turnips, diced; 1 pint onions, diced; 2 or 3 leeks, sliced; 1 head of celery, chopped; 1 lettuce, shredded

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Julienne, Soup H, LA

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

In a large pot, combine the carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, celery, and lettuce.
Add enough water to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
Season to taste and serve hot.

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.

Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,046 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Turnip + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together526 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Leek + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together217 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots: Adds sweetness and body to the broth as they soften during simmering.
Onions: Contribute sweetness and aroma as they cook down into the soup.
Celery: Adds savory, aromatic flavor and a tender vegetable texture.
Leeks: Add a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Simmering gently softens the fibrous vegetables fully. Stopping early leaves them firm and the broth thin, while a hard boil can break them apart and cloud the soup.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, leek, celery, lettuce):

Parsnipfits better
Beetrootfits better
Endivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, leek, celery, lettuce. 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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Julienne, Soup H, LA