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
Prepare
Tie the feet of the chicken down and turn the wings back.
Make the soup
Boil the chicken in 2 quarts of water until half done.
Add 2 tablespoons of rice for each chicken and continue cooking.
Stir in the chopped hard-boiled egg.
Stir in the flour mixed with water.
Stir in salt to taste and pepper to taste.
Stir in parsley, chopped.
Dress and serve
Prepare a drawn butter dressing for the chicken.
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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Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,769 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,762 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken
- Gives the soup its main flavor and body as it simmers in the water.
- Rice
- Softens as it cooks and releases starch, lightly thickening the broth.
- Flour
- Thickens the broth as its starch swells when heated in the liquid.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the drawn butter dressing served with the chicken.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour mixed with water. Flour mixed with water into a smooth slurry disperses evenly, so it avoids lumps. Stirring while the soup is hot lets the starch swell and thicken the broth evenly.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, egg, flour, pepper, butter):
- Turmericfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, egg, flour, pepper, butter. 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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