Why it works: Peas and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 313 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the vegetables
Wash and scrape the carrots, then slice them thinly.
Boil each vegetable separately in minimal water until tender.
Make the soup
Combine the cooked carrots and peas in a saucepan with their cooking water, then add the milk.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Rub the butter and flour together, mix with a little milk, and stir into the vegetables.
Finish and serve
Drain the water from the cauliflower florets and add them to the tureen just before serving.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and cream together.
Remove the soup from the heat, add a little soup to the egg and cream mixture, then stir it back into the soup.
Pour the soup into the tureen and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Peas + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,994 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Carrot + cauliflowertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together381 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and add body and a smooth, velvety texture when gently heated.
- Butter and flour
- Form a roux-style paste that thickens the soup as it is stirred in.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and moisture, giving the soup its smooth, soft body.
- Green peas
- Provide the main body and sweet, fresh flavour of the soup.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and colour, and soften to give body to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the egg and cream mixture. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot. Removing the soup from the heat and adding a little hot soup to the eggs first gently raises their temperature, so they blend in smoothly instead of curdling.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, cauliflower, milk, cream, flour, butter, egg):
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peas, cauliflower, milk, cream, flour, butter, egg. 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.
More vegetable soup recipes
You might also like
Green Peas229 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Green Peas Soup35 recipes
Cauliflower Soup28 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.