Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Put the shin of beef in a pot and cover with water.
Bring to a boil.
After boiling, reduce heat and simmer for several hours.
About two hours before dinner, add the chopped carrot, turnips, onion, potatoes, and tomatoes to the pot.
Season the soup with thyme and celery seed to taste.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,193 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef shin
- Slow simmering breaks down connective tissue, giving the broth body and tender meat.
- Potatoes
- Starch thickens the broth slightly and adds body as they soften.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and savoury depth to the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer gently after boiling. A rolling boil toughens meat and makes the broth cloudy. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer for several hours lets the connective tissue in the shin melt slowly, producing tender meat and a clearer, richer broth.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, onion, potato, thyme, celery):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, onion, potato, thyme, celery. 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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