Why it works: Peas and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 629 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Trim the peas, carrots, and cucumber into small rounds.
Cook the vegetables in boiling water, being careful not to overcook them.
Make the soup
Bring the stock to a boil.
Add salt and sugar.
Remove any scum.
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and cream to make a liaison.
Add the stock to the butter and flour mixture.
Stir until it thickens.
Incorporate the liaison of eggs and cream.
Let it come to a gentle boil without curdling.
Strain the mixture into a clean saucepan.
Add the cooked vegetables and tarragon.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Peas + cucumbertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together629 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + carrottop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,994 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Carrot + cucumbertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal or chicken stock
- Forms the liquid base that gives the soup its body and savoury flavour.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour, and forms the base of the thickening roux with flour.
- Flour
- Its starch swells in the hot stock, thickening the soup.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the liaison and add richness through their proteins setting gently with heat.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the finished soup a smooth, rich texture.
The step that matters
Incorporating the egg and cream liaison. Egg yolk proteins set when overheated, so they can curdle and turn grainy. Adding the liaison slowly to hot stock while stirring, and keeping the soup from a hard boil, lets it thicken smoothly.
Flavor stand-ins for the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, flour, egg, cream, peas, cucumber):
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Leekbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, flour, egg, cream, peas, cucumber. 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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