Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Boil the hock of beef in water for 3 hours.
Add vegetables and finish
Add the potatoes, carrots, onions, turnip, and celery.
Boil for another hour.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the beef and serve it separately on the table.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hock of beef
- Releases flavor and collagen into the broth, giving it body and savory depth.
- Potatoes
- Their starch softens and slightly thickens the broth while adding bulk.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and color to the soup.
- Onions
- Contribute savory aroma and depth to the broth.
- Turnip
- Adds a mild, earthy flavor and tender texture.
The step that matters
Boil the hock of beef in water for 3 hours.. A hard, rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and toughens the meat, while a gentle simmer keeps the broth clearer and lets the collagen break down so the meat becomes tender.
Swap the celery
The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, carrot, onion, turnip, pepper):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, carrot, onion, turnip, 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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