Why it works: Pepper and celery 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 ↓
Whitb Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Thicken the stock with boiled sifted rice and season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and celery salt.
Add boiling cream or milk to the mixture.
Finish and serve
Beat the yolks of the eggs very light.
Pour the boiling soup onto the beaten yolks just before serving.
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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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,769 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,169 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,375 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken or veal stock
- Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries its flavor.
- Boiled sifted rice
- Thickens the stock to give the soup a smooth, body-rich texture.
- Cream or milk
- Adds richness and a soft, creamy mouthfeel to the soup.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and further thicken the soup when gently combined with hot liquid.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling soup onto the beaten yolks. Adding hot soup to the yolks too fast can scramble them. Pouring slowly while whisking warms the yolks gradually, so the soup turns smooth and thick rather than grainy.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, pepper, cream, egg):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, pepper, cream, egg. 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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