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Soup

Clear Celery Soup

A clear soup made with rice, milk, celery, veal stock, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Clear Celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rinse the rice under cold water.

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, combine the rice and milk, and bring to a simmer.

  2. Grate the white part of the celery and add it to the pot.

  3. Cook until the rice is tender, adding more milk if necessary.

  4. Stir in the veal stock, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

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. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

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

  4. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Celery + vealtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Its starch thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the soup body.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy richness once the rice softens.
Celery
Adds its grated flavour and aroma to the soup.
Veal stock
Supplies savoury depth and a meaty backbone to the soup.

The step that matters

Cook until the rice is tender. Rice must be fully softened so its starch releases and thickens the liquid evenly. Undercooked grains leave the soup gritty, while adding milk as it reduces prevents scorching and keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Turmericfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Cardamomfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, veal, 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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