Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
White Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
In a saucepan, combine turnips, leeks, celery, butter, and ham.
Add stock and simmer until vegetables are tender.
Stir in milk and small pieces of bread; bring to a boil 2-3 times.
Finish and serve
Strain the soup and serve hot.
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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Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,046 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Leek + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,093 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turnips
- Provide the main body and mild, sweet flavour of the soup.
- Leeks
- Add a gentle onion-like aroma and sweetness as they soften.
- Celery
- Contributes savoury, aromatic flavour to the vegetable base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour from the vegetables and ham.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softness, making the soup smooth and mellow.
- Bread
- Thickens the soup slightly and gives it a fuller body.
The step that matters
Stir in milk and bread, then boil 2-3 times. Milk can scorch or curdle if it boils hard for too long on the base of the pan. Bringing it to a boil only a few times, with frequent stirring, keeps the soup smooth and prevents a burnt taste on the bottom.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, leek, butter, ham, milk, bread):
- Capersfits better
- Thymefits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, leek, butter, ham, milk, bread. 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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