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Beetroot Soup

Matt Tebbutt shares his recipe for the classic borscht, which can be served chilled or warm

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
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Beetroot Soup

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 ↓

Beetroot Soup

Serves 4
Prep15 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

375Calories
33 gProtein
18 gFat
20 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Beetrootnot in our table0
Horseradishnot in our table0

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.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Garlic + chickentop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Beetroot + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together406 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Beetroot + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together285 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the beetroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, clove, olive, red wine, vinegar, chicken):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Beetrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, clove, olive, red wine, vinegar, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.