Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Yermioelli Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Cover the lamb knuckle and veal piece with water in a pot.
Cook the meat until well done.
Season the soup with coarse sea salt, black pepper, herbs, and the small onion.
Add Worcestershire sauce to the soup.
Stir the soup.
Finish and serve
Boil ¼ pound of vermicelli until tender.
Strain the vermicelli.
Add the vermicelli to the soup.
Let the soup boil well.
Serve the soup.
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.
-
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lamb + vealtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together568 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Lamb + oniontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,407 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb knuckle
- Gives the broth its main meaty flavour and body as it cooks.
- Veal
- Adds further meat flavour and richness to the broth.
- Small onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the broth.
- Vermicelli
- Thin pasta that softens in the hot broth and adds starchy bulk.
The step that matters
Cook the meat until well done. The meat must cook long enough for collagen and connective tissue to break down, which gives the broth body and makes the meat tender. Stopping early leaves tough meat and a thin soup.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, veal, pepper, sauce):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, veal, pepper, sauce. 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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