Name: Asparagus Soup
Ingredients: one pint of milk; one quart of milk; one tablespoon butter; one teaspoonful chopped onion; one-half tablespoon flour; one stalk celery; one teaspoon salt; one-half teaspoonful of celery salt; one pint stewed; one cup mashed potato; one cup of mashed turnip; one pint water; one pint of hot milk; one cup meat stock; one quart water; a cup of toasted bits of bread; one quirt of finely cut asparagus; one qnart of water; one table- spoonful of butter; one half saltspoon white pepper; three boiled potatoes mashed very fine to the foundation; one sliced onion; four cold parsnips cut up into dice; four cold potatoes cut in the same manner; two onions; salt; white pepper; cayenne; pepper

Why it works: Celery and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,418 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,418 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus: Provides the main flavour and the green colour of the soup.
Milk: Forms the creamy body of the soup and softens its flavour.
Butter: Enriches the soup and combines with flour to thicken it.
Flour: Thickens the milk when cooked with butter, giving the soup body.

The step that matters

Adding the hot milk gradually. Flour mixed with butter can clump if liquid is added all at once. Adding hot milk slowly lets the starch disperse evenly, giving a smooth, lump-free thickened base.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, onion, flour, potato, turnip, meat):

Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Garlicfits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, onion, flour, potato, turnip, meat. 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
Mashed Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Parsnip	1/2 cup (78g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Turnip	1 medium (122g)	34
Asparagus	6 spears (90g)	27
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0

Asparagus Soup

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the asparagus base

Make the thickened milk

Combine and serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)