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Prussian Soup

A hearty vegetable and split pea soup with beef or mutton, simmered slowly in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Prussian Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Heat the dripping in a stewpan.

  2. Add the chopped celery, carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, and potatoes.

  3. Fry the vegetables until soft, about 20 minutes.

  4. Add the sliced beef or mutton.

  5. Cover the pan.

  6. Steam gently for 1 hour, ensuring they do not burn.

Simmer the soup

  1. Pour in the water.

  2. Add the soaked split peas.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Skim the surface.

  5. Reduce heat.

  6. Let simmer for 3 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Press the vegetables through a colander.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and dried mint if desired.

  3. Bring the soup back to a boil.

  4. 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.

  1. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 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

Celery
Provides aromatic flavour and body as it softens and breaks down into the soup.
Potatoes
Break down during simmering and pressing, thickening the soup and giving it a smooth texture.
Split peas
Dissolve as they cook, thickening the soup and adding earthy body and substance.
Beef or mutton
Adds savory meat flavour to the stock as it cooks gently with the vegetables.
Dripping
Fat for frying the vegetables, carrying flavour and helping them soften and brown lightly.
Onions
Frying softens them and builds a sweet, savory aromatic base for the soup.

The step that matters

Steaming the vegetables gently without burning. Covered gentle heat softens the vegetables in their own moisture and fat. If the heat is too high or the pan dries out, they scorch and turn bitter, spoiling the flavour of the whole soup.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, carrot, turnip, onion, leek, potato, beef. 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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