Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 21,601 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Mulligatawny Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Mince the beef.
Pour a small quantity of water over the minced beef.
Make the soup
Add the curry paste and curry powder, and mix thoroughly.
Stir the mixture into the stock along with the egg whites and the shell of one egg.
Stir with a spoon until it boils.
Allow it to simmer for 45 minutes.
Strain and serve
Strain the soup through a cloth.
Serve with pieces of cooked chicken and well-boiled rice.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Onion + eggtop 34% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together23,333 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion and egg share little aroma chemistry, yet 23,333 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the other flavors.
- Beef
- Adds meaty body and savory richness to the soup.
- Curry paste
- Provides the main spiced flavor and aroma of the soup.
- Curry powder
- Adds further warm spice and aroma to the soup.
- Egg whites
- Coagulate as the soup heats, gathering fine particles so the stock can be clarified.
The step that matters
Stir with a spoon until it boils. The egg whites and eggshell must be evenly dispersed through the cold stock before heating. As the soup warms, the egg white proteins set and gather suspended particles, which can then be strained out, leaving a clearer broth. Uneven mixing leaves patches that clarify poorly.
Flavor stand-ins for the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, egg):
- Chivebetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Leekbetter flavor fit
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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