Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Scotch Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Place the lamb in a kettle with the water and bring to a boil.
Skim the surface well.
Add the turnips and carrots, and let boil for 2 hours.
Stir in the lettuce, parsley, and rice.
Boil for an additional 45 minutes, then 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.
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.
-
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Turnip + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together526 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,842 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb
- Provides the meat and rich flavour that the broth is built on.
- Rice
- Thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during the long simmer.
- Turnips
- Add mild sweetness and body to the broth during the long boil.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and colour to the broth during the long boil.
- Lettuce
- Softens into the broth, adding soft texture and a mild vegetable flavour.
The step that matters
Skim the surface well. Skimming removes the foam and fat that rise as the lamb heats. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and stops off flavours from spreading through it.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, turnip, carrot, parsley, rice):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Okrafits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, turnip, carrot, parsley, rice. 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.
You might also like
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Rice Fritters84 recipes
Steamed Rice48 recipes
Turnip Soup43 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.