Why it works: Carrot and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,001 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Make a clear stock from the knuckle of veal.
Cut the carrot and turnip into olive shapes, and cut the string beans into diamonds.
Boil all vegetables separately in salted water until tender.
Place the boiled vegetables in cold water to retain their color.
Make the soup
Beat the yolks of the eggs with the milk.
Gradually add the egg-milk mixture to the soup, stirring smoothly over low heat.
Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add the vegetables to the soup and heat.
Serve hot immediately.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Carrot + turniptop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,001 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Peas + beanstop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together949 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Carrot + beanstop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,441 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Carrot + peastop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,994 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the soup into a smooth, creamy body when heated gently.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
- Milk
- Dilutes the yolks so they blend in evenly and stay smooth rather than curdling.
- Green peas
- Contribute color, sweetness and body as a main vegetable.
- String beans
- Add texture and fresh vegetable flavor, cut into diamonds for shape.
The step that matters
Adding the egg-milk mixture to the soup. Egg yolks thicken when heated, so they can scramble and curdle if the soup is too hot or added too quickly. Adding the mixture gradually over low heat, while stirring, lets it thicken smoothly.
Flavor stand-ins for the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, peas, beans, milk, egg, butter):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, peas, beans, milk, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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