Why it works: Pork and chicken match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,375 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
The recipe
serves with 3 cups cooked riceIngredients
Contains: wheat, tree nuts, soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Wash the celery, green onions, and mushrooms, then pat dry with paper towel.
Cut the celery and green onions diagonally into 1/4‑inch slices.
Slice the pork or chicken into thin strips.
Stir-fry
Heat the oil in a wok, add the meat and stir‑fry for 2–4 minutes.
Add the celery and stir‑fry for 2 minutes.
Add the green onions and mushrooms and stir‑fry for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken broth and soy sauce, bring to a boil, covering.
Thicken and serve
Mix cornstarch and cold water and add slowly to the chop suey, stirring constantly.
Add the water chestnuts and bean sprouts, stir until heated through.
Serve with cooked rice.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Pork + chickentop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Mushroom + chickentop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,171 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
-
Chicken + ricetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,569 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Mushroom + porktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,840 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
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Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,808 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
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a glossy sauce when heated with it.
- Soy sauce
- Adds salty, savory flavor to the broth and sauce.
- Pork or chicken breast
- Provides the main protein, cooked quickly so it stays tender.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture that holds up to brief stir-frying.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavor and moisture as they release liquid into the dish.
The step that matters
Adding the cornstarch slurry. Cornstarch must be stirred into simmering liquid and stirred constantly; added to a dry pan or left unstirred it clumps, and it only thickens once the mixture is hot enough to gelatinize the starch.
Flavor stand-ins for the water chestnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, onion, mushroom, pork, chicken, sauce, rice):
- Avocadoabout as good a flavor fit
- Water chestnutthe original
- Coconutabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against celery, onion, mushroom, pork, chicken, sauce, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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