Lentil Soup

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together81,283 recipes

   Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

2. Lentils + oniontop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together1,221 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together68,474 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

4. Lentils + peppertop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together812 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together42,912 recipes

   Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Egyptian lentils

Break down into a thick, smooth body that gives the soup its texture.

Milk

Adds richness and softens the flavour, giving the soup a creamier mouthfeel.

Butter

Adds fat and a rounder, richer flavour to the finished soup.

Swap the lentils

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, milk, pepper, butter):

1. Beansfits better
2. Sesamefits better
3. Peanutfits better
4. Lentilsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, milk, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.