Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and celery share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 75 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Artichoke Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the vegetables
Wash the artichokes well.
In a basin of clean water, add vinegar and peel the artichokes under water to keep their color.
Slice the artichokes, celery, and onion.
Make the soup
Heat the butter in a saucepan and stir in the vegetables without browning.
Add the stock and boil until the vegetables are tender.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve and return it to the saucepan.
Add the milk or cream, bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and 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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Jerusalem artichoke + celerytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together75 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Jerusalem artichoke + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together140 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Provide the main bulk and starchy body that thickens the soup as they cook and break down.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavor when the vegetables are softened gently in it.
- Onion
- Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens into the base.
- Milk or cream
- Adds creaminess and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Stir the vegetables in butter without browning. Gentle cooking softens the vegetables and builds a mild, clean flavor. Browning adds bitter, toasted notes that would change the soup's delicate taste and pale color.
Swap the jerusalem artichoke
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, celery, milk, pepper, vinegar):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Jerusalem artichokethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, celery, milk, pepper, vinegar. 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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