Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
A Baked Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat the oven.
Cut the meat into slices and place in an earthen pot.
Add onions, carrots, rice, split peas, pepper, and salt.
Pour in 1 gallon of water and cover the pot tightly.
Bake
Bake in the oven alongside bread until cooked through.
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.
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,477 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Carrot + peastop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,994 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 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
- Meat
- Provides savory flavor and protein that gives the soup its body as it cooks.
- Split peas
- Thicken the soup as they soften, adding body and earthy flavor.
- Rice
- Absorbs liquid and softens, adding body to the broth.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they cook slowly in the liquid.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and color, softening into the broth during the long bake.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, carrot, rice, pepper):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, carrot, rice, pepper. 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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