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Bisque of Turnip

A creamy soup made from turnips, beef, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Bisque of Turnip

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Put the beef, water, and onion in a soup kettle.

  2. Add the rutabagas and simmer gently for 1 hour.

  3. Press the mixture through a puree sieve and return it to the kettle.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. If the soup is too thick, add more milk to reach the desired consistency.

  4. Stir in the butter just before serving.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rutabagas
Provide the bulk of the soup and its earthy, sweet flavor as they cook down.
Beef
Adds savory depth to the broth as it simmers with the vegetables.
Milk
Makes the puree creamy and smooth, and loosens it to the desired consistency.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel when stirred in at the end.

The step that matters

Add the milk and bring to a boil. Milk can scorch or curdle if it is overheated, and it can separate when boiled hard. Heating it gently after the puree is returned to the kettle keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

Swap the rutabaga

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, milk, onion, pepper, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Rutabagathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, milk, onion, pepper, butter. 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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