Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Turkey Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the stock
Remove as much fat as possible from the turkey remains.
Break the bones.
Place the bones, any dressing, and bits of tough meat into a soup pot.
Cover with 3 quarts of cold water.
Simmer for 4 hours.
After 1 hour, add ⅓ cup of rice.
After 3 hours, remove the bones.
Skim off all the fat.
Cook the vegetables and thicken
In a small frying pan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter.
Add the chopped onion and celery to the melted butter.
Cook slowly for 20 minutes.
Remove the vegetables from the butter.
Add them to the soup.
Stir 2 tablespoons of flour into the remaining butter.
Add this mixture to the soup.
Finish and serve
Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Strain the soup through a sieve.
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.
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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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,169 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turkey remains
- Bones and meat simmered in water release flavor and body into the stock.
- Rice
- Its starch softens and thickens the broth slightly as it cooks.
- Butter
- Carries the onion and celery flavor and enriches the soup with fat.
- Flour
- Cooked in butter, it forms a roux that thickens the soup.
- Onion and celery
- Sweet, savory aromatics that build the soup's base flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the flour mixture to the soup. Flour must be cooked into the butter first so it loses its raw, pasty taste, then stirred into the soup so it thickens smoothly. Added in clumps, its starch forms lumps because the granules swell before they disperse.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, rice, butter, celery, flour, pepper):
- Carrotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, rice, butter, celery, flour, 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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