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Additions to Broths in Order to Form Clear Soups

A clear soup made by adding chopped turnip, carrot, onion, celery, and optional vegetables to butter and broth, then strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Additions to Broths in Order to Form Clear Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the turnip, carrot, onions, and celery.

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, melt the butter and add the chopped vegetables.

  2. Stir in the sugar and broth, then bring to a boil.

  3. Add any optional vegetables like peas, broccoli, cauliflower, or Brussels sprouts.

  4. Season with tarragon, chervil, or flavored vinegar if desired.

  5. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Strain

  1. Strain the soup through a fine sieve or muslin to achieve clarity.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Turnip + broccolitop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together190 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 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

Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the vegetables as they cook gently.
Broth
Provides the liquid base and savory flavor that the vegetables simmer in.
Turnip
Contributes body and a mildly sweet, earthy flavor as it softens in the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and color, softening into the broth as it simmers.
Onions
Build savory aroma and depth as they soften in the melted butter.
Sugar
Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the savory broth and vegetables.

The step that matters

Strain the soup through a fine sieve or muslin. Clarity depends on removing fine solids and cloudiness gently, without pressing hard on the vegetables, which would push particles through and make the broth murky.

Swap the peas

The recipe marks peas as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, carrot, onion, celery, butter, sugar, broccoli):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, carrot, onion, celery, butter, sugar, broccoli. 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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