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Carrot Soup

A simple soup made from carrots, onion, broth, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Carrot Soup

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Carrot Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Peel and chop the carrots and onion.

Cook the soup

  1. In a pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.

  3. Add the carrots and broth, then bring to a boil.

  4. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

  5. Blend the soup until smooth, then season with salt and pepper.

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 + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 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. Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots
Form the main body of the soup and give it sweetness and color as they soften.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma as it softens in the butter.
Broth
Provides the liquid that cooks the vegetables and carries the flavor of the soup.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and helps soften the onion gently.

The step that matters

Simmer until the carrots are fully tender. Carrots that are not fully softened stay firm and grainy, and blending cannot fully smooth them. Cooking until they yield to a knife gives a silky texture once blended.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, chicken, pepper, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, chicken, pepper, butter. 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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