Name: Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients: ½ pound ground beef; ¾ cup chopped onions; ¾ cup shredded carrots; ¾ cup chopped celery; 1 teaspoon dried basil; 1 teaspoon dried parsley; 4 tablespoons butter divided; 3 cups chicken broth; 4 cups potatoes cubed; ¼ cup all-purpose flour; 2 cups cheddar cheese cubed; 1½ cups milk; ¼ cup sour cream

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. 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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Basil + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,351 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Beef + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,148 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Ground beef: Browns for savory meaty flavor and body in the soup.
Potatoes: Soften during simmering and add body and substance to the soup.
All-purpose flour: Mixed with butter and milk to form a roux that thickens the soup.
Cheddar cheese: Melts into the soup, adding richness and its characteristic cheesy flavor.
Sour cream: Adds tang and creaminess when stirred in at the end.
Milk: Forms the creamy liquid that the flour thickens into the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the cheese and sour cream off the boil. Cheese proteins tighten and turn grainy or greasy when overheated, and sour cream can curdle at a boil. Keeping the soup at a gentle simmer lets the cheese melt smoothly.

Swap the basil

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

Thymefits better
Marjoramfits better
Tarragonfits better
Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, butter, 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Beef	100g cooked	250
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Cheeseburger Soup