Why it works: Turnip and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,418 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Combine tomatoes, onion, turnips, and celery in a pot.
Gently boil for 1 hour.
Pass the mixture through a sieve.
Finish and serve
Return to the pot, add butter, pepper, salt, and Worcestershire sauce.
Boil again briefly before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, acidity, and flavor of the soup as they break down.
- Onion
- Adds savory sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens during boiling.
- Turnips
- Contribute body and a mild sweetness that thickens the soup as they cook.
- Celery
- Adds a fresh, savory aroma that rounds out the base flavor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Passing the mixture through a sieve. Pressing the cooked vegetables through a sieve removes skins and seeds and breaks down fibres, giving the soup a smooth texture. Skipping or rushing this step leaves the soup grainy.
Flavor stand-ins for the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, celery, butter, pepper, sauce):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, celery, butter, pepper, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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