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French Vegetable Soup

A hearty soup made with mutton and assorted vegetables simmered for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

French Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Trim the meat of all fat.

  2. Place the trimmed meat in a soup kettle with the cold water.

  3. Bring the soup to a boil slowly.

  4. Skim the soup well.

Simmer

  1. Add the vegetables, except the tomatoes and parsley.

  2. Simmer the soup for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

  3. Add the tomatoes.

  4. Cook the soup for another hour.

  5. Add the parsley 10 minutes before the soup is done.

  6. If the meat is likely to fall apart, remove it before it does.

Finish and serve

  1. Finish the soup afterward.

  2. Serve without straining.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 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

Mutton or lamb
Gives the soup its meaty flavour and body as it simmers slowly.
Potatoes
Grated potatoes thicken the broth and add body to the soup.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the simmering broth.
Turnips
Contribute a mildly sharp, earthy flavour and firm texture to the soup.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and fresh flavour, and are added late to keep their shape.

The step that matters

Skim the soup well after it comes to a boil. Bringing the soup to a boil slowly and skimming off the foam that rises removes impurities and fat, keeping the broth clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, carrot, turnip, cabbage, parsley, onion, mutton):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, carrot, turnip, cabbage, parsley, onion, mutton. 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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