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Soup

Ceeam of Celery Soup

A soup made with chicken stock, rice, shredded chicken, cream, flour, pepper, salt, and celery.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ceeam of Celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Place chicken (except breast) in pot and cook until tender, then remove.

  2. Strain and skim the stock, then add rice and simmer for 45 minutes.

Finish the soup

  1. Add shredded chicken and thickened cream (mix cream with flour).

  2. Season with pepper and salt, boil for 2 minutes, then flavor with celery and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 stock
Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the other flavors.
Rice
Simmers in the stock and adds body and starchy texture to the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the soup.
Flour
Thickens the cream so the soup becomes smoother and less watery.
Chicken breast
Adds savory meat flavor and substance as finely shredded pieces.

The step that matters

Thickening the cream with flour. Flour must be mixed smoothly into the cream before it goes into the hot soup, otherwise it clumps. Starch thickens properly only when it is evenly dispersed and heated.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, cream, flour, pepper):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Garlicfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, cream, flour, 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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