Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Place the beef in a pot with 8 quarts of cold water and bring to a gentle boil.
Skim the surface carefully and add a little cold water two or three times to remove scum.
Add your choice of small-cut vegetables and cook moderately for 3 hours.
Brown the meat and serve
Remove the meat and place it in the oven to brown, basting with butter and water.
Strain the soup if you prefer it clear and serve with square bits of fried or toasted bread.
Add ½ cup of separately cooked rice before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,032 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Rice + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Releases flavor and gelatin into the broth while simmering, giving body to the soup.
- Vegetables
- Add sweetness, aroma and body to the broth as they cook.
- Cooked rice
- Adds bulk and a soft, starchy texture to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Skimming the surface. Scum rises as the water heats and can cloud the broth and taste bitter. Removing it carefully and adding small amounts of cold water keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting.
“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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