Name: Soup Sante, or Gravy Soup
Ingredients: 1 pound lean ham, sliced; 2 ounces butter; 2 pounds lean beef; 2 pounds lean veal; 6 onions, sliced; 1 carrot, sliced; 2 turnips, sliced; 2 heads celery, chopped; 1 bunch sweet herbs; 6 cloves; 2 blades mace; 3 quarts boiling water; Salt, to taste; Cayenne pepper, to taste; 1 carrot, cut into 2-inch pieces; 1 turnip, sliced; 2 leeks, chopped; 2 heads celery, chopped; 2 heads endive, chopped; 2 cabbage lettuces, chopped; A little sorrel; A little chervil; Crust of a French roll, for serving

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 ↓

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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,418 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef: Breaks down during stewing to give the soup its meaty body and flavour.
Lean veal: Adds gelatine-rich body and a delicate meaty flavour to the stock.
Lean ham: Contributes salty, savoury depth to the broth as it cooks.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding aromatic depth to the broth.
Butter: Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the meat and vegetables brown lightly at the start.
Celery: Adds aromatic, savoury background flavour to the broth and vegetables.

The step that matters

Gently cook until the mixture sticks. Slow cooking of the meat, vegetables and butter with only a little water lightly browns the base and builds concentrated flavour. Heat that is too high can scorch it and make the soup bitter.

Swap the turnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, beef, veal, onion, carrot, celery):

Leekfits about as well
Potatofits about as well
Turnipthe original
Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, beef, veal, onion, carrot, celery. 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.

Soup Sante, or Gravy Soup