Name: Homemade Chicken Stock
Ingredients: 3 (5-pound) chickens, preferably organic; 3 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered; 6 carrots, unpeeled and halved; 4 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds; 4 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half, optional (I always use them. I think they add great flavor.); 20 sprigs fresh parsley; 15 sprigs fresh thyme; 20 sprigs fresh dill; 1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise; 2 tablespoons Kosher salt; 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. 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.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,097 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together669 recipes

Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

Swap the parsnip

The recipe marks parsnip as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, dill):

Parsnipthe original
Potatofits about as well
Turnipfits less well
Leekfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, dill. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Parsnip	1/2 cup (78g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Homemade Chicken Stock