Name: Beef and Vegetable Soup
Ingredients: 2 pounds lean beef, cut into ½-inch pieces; 1 carrot, scraped and cut into ½-inch bits; 1 turnip, peeled and cut into small pieces; ½ cup rice, picked over and washed; 2 cups fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced or 2 cups canned tomatoes, cut into small pieces; ½ cup onion, peeled and chopped; 4 quarts cold water; Salt and pepper to taste

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 ↓

Beef and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

2 pounds lean beef, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 carrot, scraped and cut into ½-inch bits
1 turnip, peeled and cut into small pieces
½ cup rice, picked over and washed
2 cups fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced or 2 cups canned tomatoes, cut into small pieces
½ cup onion, peeled and chopped
4 quarts cold water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare and start the soup

Combine cold water and beef in a large pot and heat gradually.
Prepare carrot, turnip, rice, and tomatoes while the water heats.
Once the water is hot, add all prepared ingredients except salt.

Simmer and serve

When the soup is boiling, season with salt and pepper after cooking for an hour.
Simmer slowly for about 2 hours, or until the vegetables are tender.
Serve the soup with all the vegetables included.

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 + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Lean beef: Provides the main protein and savory flavor as it cooks slowly in the broth.
Rice: Thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during long simmering.
Tomatoes: Add acidity and a fresh, tangy flavor that balances the rich beef.
Turnip: Softens during simmering and adds a mildly sweet, earthy flavor.
Carrot: Softens during simmering and adds natural sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Heat the water gradually with the beef. Starting the beef in cold water and heating slowly lets its proteins and flavors release into the liquid gradually, producing a clearer, more flavorful broth than adding hot water would.

Swap the turnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, rice, tomato, onion, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Okrafits better
Turnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, rice, tomato, onion, 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Carrot Soup134 recipes

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Beef and Vegetable Soup