Name: Alva's Jook
Ingredients: 20 lb turkey with 95 percent of the meat stripped from it; 4 celery stalks, chopped, plus the celery tops; 1 large chopped round onion or two medium onions; 4 - 5 slices of fresh ginger (about 1/4-inch thick), peeled; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 2 large cans of Swansons clear chicken soup; 1 bunch parsley, bottom stems cut off; Extra water or chicken soup to cover turkey meat and bones while simmering; 2 cups medium grain raw Oriental rice, such as Hinode; 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder; 1 tsp dried cilantro; 1 TB sesame oil; 3 medium carrots, chopped; 1 head Chinese mustard cabbage, chopped into bite-sized pieces; Salt and pepper to taste; Garlic salt, optional

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,668 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Turkey + chickentop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey: Stripped meat stays in the soup, adding protein and savory body as it is served.
Medium grain rice: Releases starch as it simmers, thickening the soup and giving it a porridge-like texture.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness and color to the soup as they soften.
Chinese mustard cabbage: Adds crisp-tender texture and a mild bitterness that balances the rich broth.

The step that matters

Simmering the rice until it thickens the soup. Rice must cook fully in the broth, and its starch then loosens and thickens the liquid. Stopping early leaves grains firm and the soup thin, while overcooking can make the rice mushy.

Swap the garlic

The recipe marks garlic as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, meat, celery, onion, ginger, clove, chicken):

Thymefits better
Turmericfits about as well
Garlicthe original
Rosemaryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, meat, celery, onion, ginger, clove, chicken. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Chinese Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Soup	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Alva's Jook

Alva's Jook

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

Cook the rice and vegetables

Serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)