Name: Carrot Soup À LA Crêcy
Ingredients: 4 large carrots, chopped; 1 onion, chopped; 4 cups vegetable broth; 2 tablespoons butter; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; 1 cup heavy cream

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 À LA Crêcy

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.

Make the soup

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the chopped onions and carrots, cooking until softened, about 5 minutes.
Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until carrots are tender.

Blend and serve

Blend the soup until smooth, then stir in the heavy cream.
Season with salt and pepper to taste 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.

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 + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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, sweetness and colour of the soup as they soften and break down.
Onion: Adds savoury depth and aromatic flavour as it softens in butter.
Vegetable broth: Supplies the liquid that cooks the carrots and sets the soup's base consistency.
Butter: Adds fat for a rounded, rich flavour and helps soften the vegetables gently.
Heavy cream: Adds fat and richness, giving the blended soup a smooth, velvety texture.

The step that matters

Simmer until the carrots are fully tender. Carrots must be fully softened before blending; undercooked pieces stay fibrous and leave the soup grainy and less smooth.

Swap the carrot

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

Potatofits better
Leekfits better
Chivefits better
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, pepper, cream. 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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Carrot Soup À LA Crêcy