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Parsnip Soup

A soup made from parsnips, veal broth, tomatoes, onions, egg yolks, and milk, served with toast or croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Peel and wash the parsnips, then place them in a saucepan with the veal broth, tomatoes, and browned onions.

  2. Cover and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours.

  3. Pass the vegetables through a fine sieve and return the pulp to the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks mixed with milk.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then pour into a soup tureen.

  3. Serve with slices of toast or croutons.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Parsnip + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,054 recipes

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

  5. Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,109 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

Parsnips
Their starch and fibre thicken the soup and give it body as they break down.
Egg yolks
They enrich the soup and thicken it gently when stirred in off the heat.
Veal broth
It forms the savoury liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.
Onions
Browned in butter, they add sweetness and deep savoury aroma.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat. If the soup is too hot or boils after adding them, the proteins scramble and the soup turns grainy. Remove from heat first and stir steadily.

Swap the parsnip

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Parsnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, tomato, onion, butter, egg, milk, pepper. 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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