Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Game and Venison Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Skin and carve large birds; split small ones down the back.
Fry the birds with ham or bacon, onion, and carrot until browned.
Drain the pieces and place them in a stew-pan with stock, celery, parsley, and seasonings.
Stew gently for 1 hour.
If using venison, fry small steaks and add them to the stew.
Serve the meat in the soup, removing the ham before serving.
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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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, ham, carrot, celery, parsley, venison):
- Turnipfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, ham, carrot, celery, parsley, venison. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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