Name: Provençal Vegetable Soup
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 large leek (white and pale green parts only),; and thinly sliced (2 cups); 1 celery rib, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1 large carrot, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; 1 large thyme sprig; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1/2 pound boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1/2 pound Swiss chard, stems cut into 1/2-inch pieces and leaves coarsely chopped; 8 cups water; 2 cups thawed frozen (fresh soybeans); 1/2 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces; 3/4 cup medium pasta shells; 1 small tomato; 1 cup packed basil leaves; 1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1 cup coarsely grated Gruyère (3 ounces); Accompaniment: grilled baguette slices brushed with olive oil

Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

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.

Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together360 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,310 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (leek, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, olive, potato):

Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Rosemaryfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against leek, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, olive, potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Swiss Chard	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Soybean	not in our table	0

Provençal Vegetable Soup