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Mullagatawny Soup

A hearty soup made with meat, onions, garlic, herbs, curry powder, rice, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mullagatawny Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces and cover with cold water.

  2. Slice the onions and fry them brown in beef drippings.

  3. Add the fried onions, lemon peel, herbs, and garlic to the meat.

  4. Simmer slowly for 5 hours, skimming well.

  5. Strain the mixture through a fine colander.

Finish the soup

  1. Return the strained liquid to the kettle and add salt and ground white pepper to taste.

  2. Add the rice and cook until it begins to break into pieces.

  3. Stir in the juice of a lemon and 2 tablespoons of curry powder.

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. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Lemon + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,366 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Rabbit + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Clove + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat (fowl, rabbit, or beef or veal)
Gives the soup its savory body and rich meat flavor as it simmers.
Onions
Frying them brown adds sweetness and deep savory color to the broth.
Rice
Softens and breaks down as it cooks, thickening the soup slightly.
Curry powder
Supplies the spiced aroma that defines the soup.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich broth.

The step that matters

Skimming during the long simmer. Skimming removes foam and fat that rise during the simmer. Removing them keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy texture.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, onion, clove, lemon, rice):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, onion, clove, lemon, rice. 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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