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
Make the broth
Boil the chickens in water until very tender.
Season with salt, pepper, onions, and parsley.
Keep boiling water on hand to add to the soup as it reduces.
Remove the chickens from the pot and cut them into pieces.
Brown and finish
In a skillet, brown the butter and add the chicken pieces to brown them.
Add the quartered potatoes and flour mixed with cold water to the soup.
Boil once more and serve.
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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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,756 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Provide the meat and body of the soup as they cook until tender.
- Onions
- Add savory sweetness and aroma to the broth as they cook down.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and body, thickening the soup as they cook.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup when mixed with cold water and boiled in.
- Butter
- Browns the chicken pieces, adding color and a toasted, rich flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the flour and cold water mixture. Flour mixed with cold water must be stirred in smoothly before it goes into the hot soup, or it clumps. Boiling it briefly afterward cooks out the raw flour taste and lets the soup thicken evenly.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, parsley, butter, potato, flour):
- Chivefits better
- Carrotfits better
- Leekfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, parsley, butter, potato, flour. 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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