Name: Clam-celery Soup
Ingredients: 10 clams, chopped; 1 pint water; 1 pint milk; 1 tablespoon butter; 2 egg yolks, beaten; ½ head celery, chopped fine; 1 very small onion, chopped fine; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Clam-celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, rub together the butter and flour to form a paste.
Thicken the hot water with the butter-flour mixture and cook until smooth.
Add the chopped celery and onion, cooking for 20 minutes.
If using fresh clams, add them now; if using canned, just heat through.
Just before serving, stir in the heated milk and beaten egg yolks, and season with salt and pepper without allowing to cook.

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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Clam + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together840 recipes

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

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

Swap the celery

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

Parsleyfits better
Garlicfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clam, milk, butter, egg, onion, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.