Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Meat Stews
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the meat and boiling water in a pot.
Cover and simmer until the meat is very tender.
Add the onion, parsley, celery, spinach, cauliflower, and potato for flavoring.
Season with coarse sea salt when the meat is nearly done.
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.
-
Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Spinach + cauliflowertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together117 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
-
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + spinachtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,025 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef, lamb, or mutton
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and flavors the broth as it simmers.
- Potato
- Adds starch and body to the broth and becomes soft as it cooks.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, celery, spinach, cauliflower, potato):
- Carrotfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Broccolifits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, celery, spinach, cauliflower, potato. 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.
More meat stew recipes
You might also like
Deviled Oysters25 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.