Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Start the soup
In a large pot, combine the brown soup stock and tomato juice.
Add the chopped carrots, turnips, onion, and celery.
Boil slowly for 10 minutes.
Finish in the slow cooker
Transfer to a slow cooker and cook for 4 hours.
After 4 hours, add the diced potatoes, peas, and seasoning.
Boil for 5 minutes, then return to the slow cooker for 1 more hour.
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.
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brown soup stock
- Forms the savory liquid base that carries the flavor of the whole soup.
- Tomato juice
- Adds acidity and tangy flavor and forms part of the cooking liquid.
- Onion
- Builds the aromatic flavor base as it softens in the broth.
- Carrots
- Release natural sweetness as they cook slowly in the liquid.
- Potatoes
- Soften and release starch that gives the broth more body.
- Turnips
- Hold their shape while adding a mild, earthy flavor to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the potatoes and peas after 4 hours. Potatoes and peas cook much faster than the root vegetables. Adding them late, then cooking only as long as stated, keeps them tender without turning them mushy or dull in color.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, carrot, turnip, potato, onion, celery):
- Beansfits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, carrot, turnip, potato, onion, celery. 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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