Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Lentil Soup Without Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the lentils
Wash the lentils in two waters.
Put them into a clean stewpan.
Add 3 quarts of water, bouquet garni, onion with 2 cloves stuck in it, celery leaves, and carrot.
Bring to a boil.
Skim and simmer until the lentils are soft.
Remove the bouquet garni, onion, and carrot.
Drain in a colander.
Pound the lentils in a mortar and pass them through a sieve.
Finish the soup
Return the puree to the stewpan with 2 quarts of stock, stirring until it boils.
Simmer for 1 hour with the lid partly over.
Skim the soup.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Garnish and serve
Cut up a small bunch of young green celery leaves.
Boil them in water or a little stock.
Drain them in a colander.
Put the celery into the soup tureen.
Pour the soup over, boiling hot, and serve.
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 + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Lentils + carrottop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together505 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Lentils + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together316 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
- Small lentils
- Provide the main body, and thicken the soup once pureed and sieved.
- Stock
- Adds savory depth and the liquid that carries the lentil puree.
- Onion
- Adds a mellow, sweet aromatic flavor as it simmers in the broth.
- Carrot
- Contributes gentle sweetness and color to the flavor base.
- Celery
- Adds fresh, herbal aroma to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Stirring the puree as it comes to a boil. Lentil puree is thick and starchy, so it sticks and scorches on the bottom of the pan if not stirred. Scorched flavor spreads through the whole soup, so keep stirring until it boils, then simmer gently.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, carrot, celery, pepper):
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, carrot, celery, pepper. 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 lentil soup recipes
You might also like
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Celery Stew25 recipes
Celery Croquettes16 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.