Why it works: Carrot and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Carrot Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the vegetables
Scrape the carrots clean.
Grate only the outer red part of the carrots.
If using, slice the ripe tomato and add it to the grated carrots.
Make the soup
Heat the broth in a pot.
Season the broth with fried onions, butter, mace, and salt.
Add the grated carrots to the broth.
Cover and let the soup simmer for 2 to 3 hours.
Once the carrots are soft, strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Boil the strained soup until smooth, avoiding any curdly appearance.
Finish and serve
If desired, stir in cream or milk and egg yolks before serving.
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 + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + beeftop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Carrots
- Provide the main body, sweetness and color of the soup as they break down.
- Broth
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavor and cooks the carrots.
- Onions
- Add savory depth and aroma when fried before going into the broth.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
- Cream or milk
- Adds richness and softens the flavor when stirred in at the end.
- Egg yolks
- Add body and thickening so the soup becomes creamier when stirred in.
The step that matters
Boil the strained soup until smooth, avoiding any curdly appearance. Egg yolks and dairy can curdle if the soup boils hard after they are added. Keeping the heat gentle and the soup below a rolling boil at that stage helps it stay smooth and creamy.
Swap the tomato
The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, butter, beef, mace, cream, egg):
- Potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, butter, beef, mace, cream, 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.
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