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Soup

Mild Curry Soup

A soup made with onions, cucumbers, apples or tomatoes, mild curry powder, salt, and water or broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,050 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mild Curry Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the onions and cucumbers.

  2. Add the apples or tomatoes, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes.

  3. Stir in the curry powder and salt.

  4. Pour in the water, broth, or stock, and simmer for 20 to 32 minutes.

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. Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + appletop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together363 recipes

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

  3. Onion + appletop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,206 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, forming the base flavour of the soup.
Cucumbers
Adds moisture and a light, fresh body to the soup.
Apples or tomatoes
Breaks down as it cooks, adding body and a touch of sweetness or acidity.
Mild curry powder
Supplies the warm, aromatic spice flavour that defines the dish.
Water, broth, or stock
Forms the simmering liquid that softens the vegetables and carries the flavours.

The step that matters

Simmering after adding the liquid. Simmering too long can dull the aroma of curry powder and overcook the vegetables into a flat, uniform purée. Keep to the stated time range and taste before finishing.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Pumpkinfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, cucumber. 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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