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Cream of Celery

A creamy soup made from celery, onion, veal broth, and cream, served hot with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Cream of Celery

Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cream of Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine celery, onion, mace, salt, peppercorns, and veal broth in a saucepan.

  2. Boil for 1 hour.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve and return the pulp to a saucepan.

  4. Add 1 quart more of stock and keep warm.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the cream in a separate pot and strain it into the soup while whisking.

  2. If the soup is not thick enough, add a little flour.

  3. Taste and adjust seasoning.

  4. Pour into a hot tureen and serve with toast.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Celery + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,905 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  4. Celery + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Onion + vealtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Celery
Provides the main flavour and body of the soup once cooked and sieved.
Rich cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the finished soup.
Veal broth or stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the vegetables.
Flour
Thickens the soup if it is not thick enough after blending.

The step that matters

Adding the boiled cream while whisking. Pouring hot cream in without constant whisking can cause it to curdle or separate. Whisking disperses it evenly so the soup stays smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, onion, veal, cream, flour):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, onion, veal, cream, flour. 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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