Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Carrot Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the carrots in the stock until tender.
Cut up the cooked carrots and rub them through a sieve.
Weigh the pulped carrots and mix with stock in a 1:1 ratio.
Season with salt and a little cayenne pepper.
Bring to a boil and serve hot with fried bread squares.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,628 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Carrots
- Provide the main body, sweetness and thick texture once pulped and blended with stock.
- Stock
- Supplies the liquid base and carries the flavour of the soup.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, bread):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, 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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