Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Strain the beef stock into a kettle, removing the fat and sediment.
Add the onion, bay leaf, celery, parsley, sweet herbs, peppercorns, and cloves to the stock.
Boil gently for 15 minutes.
Strain the soup through a fine strainer or cloth.
Serve hot as a simple beef soup.
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.
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.
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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,668 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,768 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries all the flavour of the soup.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and savoury depth as it softens and infuses the stock.
- Celery
- Contributes a mild, fresh vegetable aroma to the broth.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, celery, parsley):
- Thymefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, celery, parsley. 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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