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Cream of Celery

A creamy soup made from celery, stock, cream, and butter, finished with green celery tops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Cream of Celery

Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cream of Celery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. Boil the stock with the chopped celery and minced onion for about 30 minutes.

Thicken and finish

  1. Make a cream sauce by combining the flour, butter, and milk.

  2. Mix the cream sauce with the contents of the kettle.

  3. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

  4. Garnish with finely minced green celery tops before serving.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Celery + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,905 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

Celery
Provides the main flavor and body of the soup as it simmers in the stock.
Flour
Thickens the cream sauce so the soup becomes smooth and velvety.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor in the cream sauce.
Cream or milk
Adds creaminess and softness, giving the soup a smooth, mellow texture.

The step that matters

Mix the cream sauce with the contents of the kettle. Adding the flour-based cream sauce to hot liquid can clump if it is not combined smoothly. Whisking well and adding it gradually helps keep the soup evenly thickened and smooth.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, cream, onion, flour, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, cream, onion, flour, 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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