Name: Cheddar and Ale Soup with Potato & Bacon
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients: 4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced; 1 medium onion, minced; 1 small shallot, minced; 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice; 1 medium carrot, minced; 1 small stalk celery, minced; 1 garlic clove, minced; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1½ cups (one 12-ounce bottle) light-colored ale; 1 cup chicken stock; 2½ cups half-and-half; 1 bay leaf; Pinch cayenne pepper; 2 tablespoons dry sherry; 12 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded (about 3 cups); 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves; Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Why it works: Carrot and celery 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.

Carrot + celerytop 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).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 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 (onion, shallot, potato, carrot, celery, garlic, flour):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Cheddar and Ale Soup with Potato & Bacon