Skip to main content
Main

Parsnip Soup

A simple soup of parsnips simmered in veal stock and strained to a smooth consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,381 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Parsnip Soup

2 quarts total

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a wide stewpan or saucepan over low heat.

  2. Slice the parsnips and add them to the pan.

  3. Stew the parsnips gently until they are soft.

  4. Gradually pour in enough veal stock or broth to cover the parsnips.

  5. Simmer slowly for 20 to 30 minutes.

  6. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, adding more stock to reach a total of 2 quarts.

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. Butter + vealtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Parsnip + vealtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  3. Butter + parsniptop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,051 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour as the parsnips soften gently in it.
Parsnips
Provide the main body, sweetness and starchy thickness of the soup.
Veal stock or broth
Supplies liquid and savoury depth in which the parsnips cook and soften.

The step that matters

Stew the parsnips gently until soft. Low heat softens the parsnips without browning them, keeping the soup pale and sweet. Fast boiling can scorch the butter and leave uneven, grainy texture when sieved.

Swap the parsnip

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

  1. Onionfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Parsnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, veal. 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.

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesParsnip CakesParsnip Cakes12 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes