Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Onion Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Simmer the water from boiling a leg or neck of mutton with carrots, turnips, and shank-bone for 2 hours.
Strain the broth over 6 sliced and lightly fried onions.
Simmer and serve
Simmer for 3 hours, skimming carefully.
Serve with a roll or fried bread.
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.
-
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,252 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Onions
- Sweetness and savory depth as they soften and brown in the broth.
- Carrots
- Add gentle sweetness and body to the broth.
- Turnip
- Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the broth.
- Roll or fried bread
- Soaks up broth and adds a contrasting texture when served.
The step that matters
Skimming the simmering broth. Long simmering releases fat and fine impurities that rise to the surface. Skimming them off keeps the soup clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy finish.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, mutton, pepper, bread):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, mutton, pepper, bread. 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.
More onion soup recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipes
White Bread80 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.