Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 68,474 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Vermicelli Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Break the lamb and veal bones and place them in a soup kettle.
Cover the bones with cold water and boil for 3 hours, adding hot water as needed to maintain the same quantity.
Set the broth aside until morning.
Finish and serve
Remove fat and bones from the broth and heat it on the stove.
Add the sliced and fried onion and Worcestershire sauce.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, and add any sweet herb if desired.
Strain the soup, return it to the kettle, and add the boiled vermicelli.
Let it boil well 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lamb + vealtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together568 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Lamb + oniontop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,407 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together6,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb and veal bones
- Long simmering draws gelatin and flavor into the water, forming the body of the broth.
- Vermicelli
- Thin pasta that absorbs broth and adds starchy bulk to the soup.
- Onion
- Frying and then simmering it adds sweetness and savory aroma to the broth.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Adds savory, tangy depth that rounds out the broth's flavor.
The step that matters
Remove fat and bones from the broth. Fat left floating on the broth makes the soup greasy and cloudy in taste, so skimming it before reheating matters.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, veal, sauce, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, veal, sauce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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