Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Oavoy Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Boil the savoy cabbage until tender.
Drain the cabbage in a colander and press out the water.
Place the cabbage in a clean stewpan and cover with broth.
Cover the stewpan and simmer for 1 hour.
Make the roux
In a separate saucepan, melt the butter.
Stir in enough flour to make a smooth paste.
Cook the paste over heat until lightly colored.
Add sliced onions and fry lightly.
Moisten the paste with some boiling soup.
Gradually add it to the stewpan.
Finish and serve
Boil the soup for a few more minutes.
Skim carefully.
Mix in the quart of boiling milk and add soaked crackers if desired.
Serve very hot.
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.
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Savoy cabbage
- Becomes tender through boiling and simmering, forming the body of the soup.
- Sweet butter
- Carries the flour and onions, adding richness and a rounded flavor to the base.
- Flour
- Cooked into a paste that thickens the soup and gives it body.
- Onions
- Fried lightly in the paste, adding sweetness and savory aroma.
- Milk
- Added at the end to mellow the broth and give the soup a creamy texture.
The step that matters
Cook the flour paste until lightly colored. Flour thickens best when its starch is cooked through, and stirring in the paste gradually into the hot soup helps prevent lumps. Cooking it until lightly colored adds a nutty flavor without scorching.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, flour, onion, milk):
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, flour, onion, milk. 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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