Name: Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided; 1 10- to 11-ounce fully cooked smoked Portuguese linguica sausage or chorizo sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Spanish chorizo can be substituted); 2 medium onions, chopped; 2 large garlic cloves, minced; 2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams; about 2 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices; 1 pound white-skinned potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices; 6 cups low-salt chicken broth; 1 9-ounce bag fresh spinach

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

Because I am, in all likelihood, about seven years old on the inside but old enough on the outside to know that this might never change, I’m just going to admit from the start that the concept of sausage soup makes me giggle. It also sounds kind of gross, don’t you think? Hee hee. In fact, when it appeared a few weeks ago as Epicurious’ Recipe of the Day, I sent the link to my husband who, also being seven or maybe seven and a half on the inside, would totally get a kick out of it. But then–and I hope that this doesn’t mean that he is growing up on me, because that just will not do–he actually said that it sounded good, and that we should make it for dinner.

By smittenkitchen · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients

Why it works: Sweet potato and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 264 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 10- to 11-ounce fully cooked smoked Portuguese linguica sausage or chorizo sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Spanish chorizo can be substituted)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams; about 2 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 pound white-skinned potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
6 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 9-ounce bag fresh spinach

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By smittenkitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Sweet potato + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,030 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Sweet potato + yamtop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together99 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together9,019 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + spinachtop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together2,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the yam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, garlic, sweet potato, potato, chicken, spinach):

Tomatobetter flavor fit
Chivebetter flavor fit
Broccolibetter flavor fit
Yamthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, garlic, sweet potato, potato, chicken, spinach. 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).

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