Name: Turkey Oriental Soup
Ingredients: 1/2 cup uncooked rice; 7 cups turkey or chicken broth; 2 cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey; 1 cup diagonally sliced celery; 2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks; 1 14-ounce can fancy mixed Chinese vegetables, drained and rinsed; 1/2 cup sliced green onions; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 2 tablespoons sherry; 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

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).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,477 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,169 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Uncooked rice: Softens in the broth and adds body to the soup as it cooks.
Cornstarch: Thickens the broth slightly so it clings to the ingredients.
Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory flavor to the broth.
Sherry: Adds aromatic depth and a mild sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Adding the cornstarch mixture. Cornstarch must be blended smooth and stirred into simmering broth so it thickens evenly; if it is added dry or clumps, it forms lumps and uneven thickening.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, turkey, celery, carrot, sauce, sherry):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Turnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, turkey, celery, carrot, sauce, sherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6

Turkey Oriental Soup