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 ↓
Carrot Soup
Ingredients
Directions
In a soup kettle, combine the knuckle of veal and cold water.
Add the finely sliced carrots and celery.
Boil for 2.5 hours.
Stir in the rice and boil for an additional hour.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then serve.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,477 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,169 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal knuckle
- Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth, giving it body.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and color, and thicken the soup as they break down during long boiling.
- Celery
- Adds aromatic, savory flavor to the broth.
- Rice
- Thickens the soup as its starch releases during simmering.
The step that matters
Long, gentle boil of the veal and vegetables. Simmering the veal knuckle for a long time slowly extracts collagen and flavor into the water, which gives the broth body. A rolling boil can cloud the broth and make it greasy, so keep the heat steady.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, rice, pepper):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Turmericfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, rice, 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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