Name: Cream of Celery
Ingredients: 1 knuckle of ham; a few onions; plenty of outside stalks of celery; a few blades of mace; good veal or chicken stock

Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cream of Celery

Ingredients

Directions

In a pot, combine good veal or chicken stock with a knuckle of ham, onions, outside stalks of celery, and blades of mace.
Boil until the celery is soft.
Remove the ham from the pot.

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.

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.

Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,078 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Celery + macetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,769 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Onion + vealtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).