Why it works: Leek and pepper work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 965 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Scotch Leek Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Trim and wash the leeks, then simmer them in the mutton broth for about 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix the oatmeal with a little cold water until smooth.
Finish and serve
Stir the oatmeal mixture into the soup to thicken it.
Season with salt and pepper, then serve hot.
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.
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Leek + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together965 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Leek + muttontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leeks
- Provide the main body and mild onion-like flavor of the soup as they simmer.
- Mutton broth
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavor of the soup.
- Oatmeal
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
The step that matters
Stirring the oatmeal mixture into the soup. Oatmeal must be smooth in cold water before it goes in, otherwise it clumps. Stirring well as it goes in spreads the starch evenly so it thickens the broth without lumps.
Swap the leek
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Leekthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, 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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