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Onion and Celery Soup

A soup of finely chopped celery and onions simmered in water, enriched with milk and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Onion and Celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, combine the chopped celery and onions with the water.

  2. Cook until the vegetables are very tender.

  3. Add the rich milk and stir well.

  4. Season with butter, salt, and pepper.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

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.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic vegetable flavour that gives the soup its character.
Onions
Provide sweetness and aroma as they soften during cooking.
Rich milk
Adds body, creaminess and a smooth, rich texture to the soup.
Butter
Contributes fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel in the finished soup.

The step that matters

Cook until the vegetables are very tender. If the celery and onions are not fully softened, the soup will taste harsh and have a coarse texture. Cooking them thoroughly breaks down their cell walls, releasing sweetness and producing a smoother result once blended into the liquid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, milk, butter, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, milk, butter, 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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