Name: A Baked Soup
Ingredients: 1 pound meat, cut into slices; 2 onions, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 ounces rice; 1 pint split peas (or whole peas if soaked); pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 1 gallon water; any available vegetables (turnips, leeks, potatoes, outer leaves of lettuce, celery)

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

A Baked Soup

Ingredients

1 pound meat, cut into slices
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 ounces rice
1 pint split peas (or whole peas if soaked)
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste
1 gallon water
any available vegetables (turnips, leeks, potatoes, outer leaves of lettuce, celery)

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In an earthen jug or pan, combine the meat, onions, carrots, rice, split peas, pepper, and salt.
Pour in 1 gallon of water and cover tightly.

Bake and serve

Bake alongside bread in the oven.
Add any small chopped vegetables to the soup after the meat is served.
Boil bones and leftover meat until they yield their nourishment.

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.

Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,046 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,310 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + leektop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,326 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat: Provides savory flavour and richness to the broth as it cooks.
Split peas: Thicken the soup as they soften and break down during baking.
Rice: Adds body and starch that helps thicken the soup.
Onions: Contribute sweetness and aroma as they soften in the liquid.
Carrots: Add sweetness and body as they soften in the liquid.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, carrot, rice, pepper, turnip, leek):

Beansfits better
Lentilsfits better
Chickpeafits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, carrot, rice, pepper, turnip, leek. 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.