Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Leek or Oxion Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Mix oatmeal with cold water until smooth, then gradually add broth until fully incorporated.
Boil the mixture with leeks or onions until it thickens to a creamy consistency.
Alternatively, use flour instead of oatmeal, stirring vigorously for 5 minutes.
Before serving, stir in the beaten egg yolks mixed with a little broth.
Serve variation
For a refreshing variation, fry chopped onions in oil or butter, pour boiling water over them, and serve with seasoned stale bread.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + leektop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together328 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,488 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Leek + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together965 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton broth
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.
- Oatmeal or flour
- Thickens the broth as it boils, giving a creamy consistency.
- Egg yolks
- Enriches the soup and adds body when stirred in before serving.
- Leeks or onions
- Add savoury sweetness and aroma as they cook into the broth.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if the soup is too hot or boiling when they are added. Mixing them with a little broth first and adding them off the heat helps them blend in smoothly and thicken gently.
Swap the leek
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, egg, pepper, butter, bread):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Leekthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, egg, pepper, butter, 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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