Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Celeriac Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook and purée the celery
Wash, peel, and slice three celery roots.
Put the sliced celery in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, and cook until tender.
Mash the cooked celery through a puree sieve with the water in which they were boiled.
Make the soup
Melt a good heaping tablespoonful of butter.
Stir into the melted butter a small tablespoonful of flour.
Add the celery puree to the butter and flour mixture, seasoning with a little cayenne pepper and salt to taste.
Add three-quarters of a cup of macaroni previously boiled in water.
When the soup comes to a boil, remove it from the fire and add as much boiling milk as will make it the proper consistency.
Finish and serve
Beat two egg yolks with half a cup of cream.
Stir the beaten yolks and cream quickly into the soup just before pouring it into the tureen.
Keep the soup off the fire to prevent curdling.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Macaroni | not in our table | 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 + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Flour + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,905 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cream + celerytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,863 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 roots
- Provides the main bulk and flavour, and becomes the smooth body of the soup when puréed.
- Flour
- Cooked into the melted butter to form a roux that thickens the soup.
- Macaroni
- Adds body and starch, giving the soup a heartier texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and enrich the soup when stirred in off the heat.
The step that matters
Stirring the yolks and cream into the soup. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat, but too much heat scrambles them and the soup curdles. Adding them quickly off the fire, and keeping the soup off the heat afterward, keeps it smooth.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cream, egg, pepper):
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream, egg, pepper. 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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