Name: Celery Soup with Sourdough Croutons and Tarragon Swirl
Yield: Makes 6 first-course servings
Ingredients: 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided; 6 green onions, chopped; 4 cups sliced celery with leaves (about 1 pound); 4 cups low-salt chicken broth; 12 ounces white-skinned potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces; 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds; 3 tablespoons whipping cream; 3/4 cup 1/3-inch cubes sourdough baguette (about 1 1/2 ounces); 2 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt; 1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon plus 6 sprigs for garnish

Why it works: Celery and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 456 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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 + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together456 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Olive + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,458 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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 tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, celery, chicken, potato, cream, yogurt):

Garlicfits better
Thymefits better
Cuminfits about as well
Tarragonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, celery, chicken, potato, cream, yogurt. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Sourdough	1 slice (36g)	93
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
Tarragon	1 tsp dried (0.5g)	2

Celery Soup with Sourdough Croutons and Tarragon Swirl