Name: Mulligatawny Soup
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter; 1 large onion; 1 carrot, peeled and diced; 2 stalks celery with leaves, diced; 1 green pepper, seeded and diced; 1 apple, peeled and diced; 1 1/2 cups raw chicken or beef (about 1 pound); 1/2 cup flour; 1 tablespoon curry powder; 1/2 tsp nutmeg; 6 cups chicken or beef broth; 2 cloves, crushed; 1 cup tomatoes, peeled and chopped; salt to taste; 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper; 3-4 cups cooked rice; 1 cup toasted, slided almonds for garnish

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).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds fat and richness, and carries the flavour of the cooked vegetables.
Flour: Thickens the soup as it cooks with the butter and curry.
Curry powder: Provides the main spiced, aromatic flavour of the soup.
Chicken or beef: Adds savoury meat flavour and body to the soup.
Chicken or beef broth: Forms the liquid base that the soup simmers in.
Tomatoes: Add acidity and sweetness that balance the spices.

The step that matters

Cooking the flour with the curry and nutmeg. Cooking the flour-butter mixture over low heat lets the raw starch taste cook off and lets the spices bloom in fat, while the flour thickens the broth. Stirring keeps it from scorching.

Swap the apple

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

Lemonfits better
Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, carrot, celery, pepper, chicken, flour. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Raw Chicken	100g cooked	165
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mulligatawny Soup