Name: Noodle Soup, with Chicken
Ingredients: 2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded; 4 cups chicken broth; 1 cup egg noodles; 1 onion, chopped; 2 carrots, sliced; 2 celery stalks, sliced; Salt and pepper to taste

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 ↓

Noodle Soup, with Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Combine chicken broth, onion, carrots, and celery in a large pot.
Bring to a boil.
Add the egg noodles and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.
Stir in the shredded chicken.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot.

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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Chicken broth: Provides the liquid base and savory flavor for the whole soup.
Egg noodles: Add starch and chewy body, thickening the broth slightly as they cook.
Chicken: Adds protein and meaty texture to the finished soup.
Onion: Contributes aromatic sweetness as it softens in the broth.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness and a firm, tender bite.
Celery: Adds a fresh, slightly savory aroma and crisp texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, egg, carrot, celery, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Leekfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, egg, carrot, celery, 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.