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Cream of Celery Soup

A creamy soup made from celery, tomatoes, milk, and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Cream of Celery Soup

Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream of Celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Cook the celery in water for 30 to 40 minutes.

  2. Mash and strain the celery.

  3. Cook the tomatoes with a pinch of baking soda and strain.

Make the soup

  1. Mix the cornstarch with a little milk and add it to the boiling milk; cook for 10 minutes.

  2. Add the strained celery, then the tomatoes and butter.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

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.

  1. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Celery
Provides the main flavour and the bulk of the soup's body once mashed and strained.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the soup.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk so the soup becomes creamy rather than watery.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a light colour and tang to balance the celery and milk.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Add the cornstarch to the milk. Cornstarch must be mixed with a little cold milk first so it does not clump, then cooked in the boiling milk long enough to swell and thicken the soup evenly.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, milk, butter, pepper):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, milk, butter, 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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