Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Crab Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the broth
Wash the beef in cold water and place it in a soup kettle.
Cover with cold water.
Skim off any foam as it begins to boil.
Cover and simmer for 4 hours.
Add the vegetables and crab
Boil the crabs in water for 15 minutes or until the claws come off.
Remove and extract the meat.
After 3 hours of simmering, add the parsley, celery, and leeks.
Cook for 1 more hour.
Remove the beef when there are 3 pints of soup left.
Skim off the fat.
Add the tomatoes and cook slowly for 45 minutes.
In a skillet, heat the browned flour and butter.
Stir in a ladle of soup and boil for a few minutes.
Stir this mixture into the soup 5 minutes before the tomatoes are done.
Add the crab meat and remove from heat as soon as it is hot.
Do not boil after adding the crab.
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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Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + leektop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,093 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together759 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef leg
- Slow simmering releases flavor and gelatin into the broth, giving body to the soup.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and a bright, savory flavor to the broth as they cook down.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the soup slightly and adds a toasted, nutty depth of flavor.
- Butter
- Carries the browned flour smoothly into the soup and adds richness.
- Crab meat
- Adds sweet, delicate seafood flavor and tender texture to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Do not boil after adding the crab. Crab meat is delicate and turns tough and rubbery when boiled, so it should be heated only until warm and removed from heat.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, celery, leek, flour, butter, crab):
- Turnipfits better
- Chivefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, celery, leek, flour, butter, crab. 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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