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Mulligatawny Soup

A broth-based soup with rice, onion, mace, lemon, brown roux, curry powder, and tomato juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Mulligatawny Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine the broth, minced onion, mace, and soaked rice.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the rice is tender.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice, brown roux, curry powder, and salt.

  4. Add the strained tomato juice and heat through 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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Soaked rice
Softens as it simmers, adding body and thickening the soup slightly.
Brown roux
Flour cooked in fat, thickening the broth and giving it a toasted, rich flavor.
Strained tomato juice
Adds acidity and tomato flavor that balances the curry spices.
Curry powder
Supplies warm spice aroma that defines the soup's character.

The step that matters

Stirring in the brown roux. Flour thickens only when it is fully dispersed in hot liquid. Stirring steadily while the soup is hot helps prevent lumps and keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, rice, lemon, tomato):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, rice, lemon, tomato. 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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