Name: Very Green Soup
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 1 onion , finely chopped; oil for frying; 1 garlic clove , crushed; 2 courgettes , shredded or grated; ¼ of a Savoy cabbage , core removed, shredded; 2 large handfuls of spinach , roughly chopped; vegetable stock fresh, cube or concentrate, made up to 750ml; 1 thin-cut rasher of streaky bacon , chopped (optional)

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Very Green Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 onion , finely chopped
oil for frying
1 garlic clove , crushed
2 courgettes , shredded or grated
¼ of a Savoy cabbage , core removed, shredded
2 large handfuls of spinach , roughly chopped
vegetable stock fresh, cube or concentrate, made up to 750ml
1 thin-cut rasher of streaky bacon , chopped (optional)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

246Calories

6 gProtein

17 gFat

19 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Savoy Cabbage	1 cup shredded (89g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Cabbage + spinachtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together190 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Onion + cabbagetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,001 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + cabbagetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together635 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, cabbage, spinach):

Cuminfits better
Capersfits better
Turmericfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, cabbage, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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