Why it works: Garlic and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,665 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Celery Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the chopped celery in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes.
Drain the water and add 2 quarts of fresh water.
Add the minced garlic, olive oil, and nut butter, then boil for 2 hours.
Stir in the 3 cups of milk and the thickened milk, then boil for a few more minutes.
Serve
Serve hot.
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.
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Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,665 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,668 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Celery + olivetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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 bulk of the soup.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and body to the broth.
- Nut butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the soup a fuller mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk so it adds body to the soup.
- Olive oil
- Carries fat-soluble flavour and adds richness.
The step that matters
Thickened milk stirred in at the end. Flour mixed into milk needs to be well dispersed before it goes in, or it clumps. Once stirred in, it must simmer briefly so the starch swells and the soup thickens smoothly.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, garlic, olive, butter, milk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Thymefits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against clove, garlic, olive, butter, milk, 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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