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Mixed Vegetable Soup

A hearty soup made with assorted vegetables simmered in stock and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 590 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. In a large pot, combine the soup stock and water.

  2. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, turnip, parsnips, and cabbage.

  3. Stir in the strained tomatoes, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.

  4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Turnip + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together590 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Soup stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the whole soup.
Onion
Builds savoury sweetness and aroma as it softens in the simmering broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and firm texture that holds up through simmering.
Strained tomatoes
Contributes acidity and body, colouring and deepening the broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic depth and a tender, savoury vegetable texture.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and body as it becomes tender during simmering.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, carrot, celery, turnip, parsnip, cabbage, parsley):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, celery, turnip, parsnip, cabbage, parsley. 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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