Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,002 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Vermicelli Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Make stock by simmering bones and meat with marjoram, carrot, turnip, onion, and cloves.
Strain the stock, return it to the pot, and bring it to a boil.
Finish the soup
Skim off any fat, then add vermicelli.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, and simmer until the vermicelli is cooked.
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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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Marjoram + carrottop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together687 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Marjoram + clovetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,075 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Marjoram + turniptop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together367 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bones and meat
- Build the savory body and rich flavor of the stock as they simmer.
- Vermicelli
- Provides the noodles that give the soup its body and bite.
- Carrot
- Adds sweetness and aromatic flavor to the stock as it cooks.
- Turnip
- Adds mild, slightly sweet vegetable flavor to the stock.
- Onion
- Contributes savory depth and aroma to the stock as it simmers.
The step that matters
Skim off any fat, then add vermicelli. Fat left on the surface can make the broth greasy and dull in flavor. Skimming before adding the noodles keeps the broth clean-tasting and prevents the noodles from absorbing excess fat.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, marjoram, carrot, turnip, clove, pepper):
- Parsnipbetter flavor fit
- Leekbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, marjoram, carrot, turnip, clove, 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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