Why it works: Celery and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,331 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Celery Soup
10 personsIngredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the celery into small pieces.
Cook and strain
Throw it into the boiling water, seasoned with nutmeg, salt, and sugar.
Boil until sufficiently tender.
Pass it through a sieve.
Add the stock and simmer for half an hour.
Finish and serve
Put in the cream, bring to the boiling point, and serve immediately.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,863 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
-
Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Celery
- Forms the main body and flavour of the soup as it cooks down.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the finished soup.
- Strong stock
- Adds savoury depth to the celery base.
The step that matters
Passing the cooked celery through a sieve. Celery fibres stay stringy unless the cooked vegetable is pressed through a sieve, which gives the soup a smooth texture before the cream goes in.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, nutmeg. 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.
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