Name: Turkey Mulligatawny Soup
Ingredients: 3 Tbs. unsalted butter; 1 boneless, skinless turkey breast half, about 1 1/2 lb., cut into; bite-size cubes; 1 yellow onion, finely chopped; 3 celery stalks, finely chopped; 2 carrots, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1 Tbs. curry powder; 4 cups chicken broth; 1/2 cup long-grain white rice; 1 cup plain yogurt; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro (optional)

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).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,668 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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 (butter, turkey, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, chicken):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Clovethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Turkey Mulligatawny Soup