Why it works: Leek and pepper work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 965 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Cock-a-leeky Soup
Ingredients
Directions
In a large pot, combine the mutton or veal, fowl, and leeks.
Simmer in the broth for 1 hour.
Season with pepper and salt, then add more leeks.
Boil for an additional 45 minutes and serve.
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.
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Leek + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together965 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + leektop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton or veal
- Its meat and bones release gelatin and savory flavor into the broth as it cooks.
- Fowl
- Its meat and bones add rich, deep poultry flavor to the long-simmered broth.
- Leeks
- They contribute a mild onion-like aroma and soft sweetness as they cook down.
The step that matters
Adding the second batch of leeks. Leeks added late keep their shape and bright flavor, while those cooked the whole time turn soft and lose aroma. Holding back the extra leeks until after seasoning keeps the soup's texture and taste distinct.
Swap the leek
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Leekthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, 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.
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