Name: Chicken Soup with Vegetables
Ingredients: 1 chicken,; 3-4 carrots,; 1 celery,; 1 onion,; 1 spoonful flour,; 1 cupful milk,; 40g butter,; 1 egg,; pepper,; parsley,; salt,; vermicelli if desired.

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).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken: Provides the main protein and savoury meaty flavour of the broth.
Butter: Fat that softens the vegetables and carries their aroma into the soup.
Flour: Starch that thickens the liquid as it heats.
Egg: Proteins set when heated, giving the soup a richer, thicker body.
Milk: Adds creaminess and softness, blending with the egg to finish the texture.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness, colour and body to the broth.

The step that matters

Thicken with beaten egg and milk under constant stirring. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the soup gets too hot or is not stirred, the egg can scramble into lumps instead of thickening it smoothly. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the texture silky.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, carrot, onion, flour, milk, butter, egg):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits about as well
Garlicfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, carrot, onion, flour, milk, butter, egg. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Chicken Soup with Vegetables