Name: Barley Soup
Ingredients: 2 lbs. shin of beef; 1 lb. pearl barley; 1 large bunch of parsley; 4 onions; 5 potatoes; salt and pepper to taste; 4 quarts of water

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Barley Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.
Simmer gently for 8 hours.
Serve hot.

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.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Barley + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together165 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef: Provides rich flavor and tender meat as it slowly simmers in the broth.
Pearl barley: Thickens the soup and adds a chewy texture as its starches release during simmering.
Potatoes: Break down slightly as they cook, adding body and starch to the broth.
Onions: Release sweetness and savory depth into the broth as they cook slowly.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, barley, onion, potato, pepper):

Garlicfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Celeryfits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, barley, onion, potato, 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.