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Soup

Green Plantain Soup

A Haitian soup of salted beef, green plantains, cabbage and celery in a seasoned broth.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Green Plantain Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the beef in a heavy kettle with water, garlic, parsley, celery stalks, scallions, bay leaf and salt; bring to a brisk boil.

  2. Reduce heat and simmer until meat is tender.

  3. Strain broth, discarding the vegetables.

  4. Dice the beef and set aside.

  5. Return the broth to the fire and bring again to a gentle boil.

Build the soup

  1. Add to the broth Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and chopped celery.

  2. Slice plantains into thick rounds and fry in two or three Tbs. butter until golden.

  3. Pound each round with a wooden mallet until flat, and add immediately to the soup.

  4. Simmer an additional fifteen minutes.

  5. During the last few minutes of cooking time add cabbage, diced beef and cinnamon stick.

  6. Discard cinnamon stick before serving the soup.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

405Calories
34 gProtein
16 gFat
33 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 14 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Celery Stalks1 stalk (40g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Plantainnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  5. Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 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

Salted beef
Provides the meat and rich flavour base for the broth.
Green plantains
Fried then flattened, they thicken the soup and add starchy body.
Cabbage
Adds tender texture and fresh vegetable bulk in the final minutes.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated savoury depth and a touch of acidity to the broth.

The step that matters

Frying the plantain rounds until golden. Frying in butter browns the surface and firms the starch so the flattened rounds hold their shape instead of dissolving into the broth.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sauce, garlic, tomato, parsley, celery, cabbage):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sauce, garlic, tomato, parsley, celery, cabbage. 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.

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