Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Chicken Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Place the cut-up chickens in a pot with 5 quarts of cold water.
Season with salt and pepper, then bring to a boil until the meat is very well done.
If in season, add the corn when the soup is half done.
Remove the chicken from the pot and cut it into small pieces.
In a separate bowl, mix the butter with the flour, then add the cream.
Add the cut chicken back into the pot.
Just before serving, stir in the beaten egg yolks and chopped parsley.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,666 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Parsley + corntop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together943 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving the soup a smooth body.
- Flour
- Mixed with butter and thickens the soup, giving it body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silky texture to the soup.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the soup when stirred in at the end.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat and can scramble if the soup is boiling. Adding them just before serving, off the boil, keeps the soup smooth.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter, flour, cream, egg, corn):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter, flour, cream, egg, corn. 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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