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Carrot Soup

A soup made from grated carrots simmered in broth with onions, butter, mace, salt, optional tomato, cream, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Carrot Soup

Why it works: Carrot and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Carrot Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Scrape and finely grate the carrots, using only the outer rind.

  2. If using, slice the tomato and add it to the grated carrots.

Make the soup

  1. Heat the broth in a pot.

  2. Season with fried onions in butter, mace, and salt.

  3. Add the grated carrots to the broth.

  4. Cover the pot.

  5. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

  6. Once soft, strain the mixture through a fine sieve until smooth.

  7. If desired, boil the soup until it reaches a jelly-like consistency.

  8. For added richness, stir in cream or milk and egg yolks before serving.

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.

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.

  1. Carrot + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots
Provide the main body, colour and sweet flavour of the soup.
Broth
Forms the liquid base that carries the carrot flavour and softens the grated carrots.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the finished soup.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the soup, adding body and a creamy mouthfeel.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour when used to fry the onions.

The step that matters

Simmering the soup until soft. The carrots must be fully softened for the soup to strain smooth; undercooked carrots leave a grainy texture. Keep the pot covered and the heat low so the liquid does not reduce too quickly.

Swap the tomato

The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, meat, butter, mace, cream, egg):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, meat, butter, mace, cream, egg. 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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