Why it works: Celery and carrot 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 ↓
Portable Soup for Travellers
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and simmer
Cut the veal, beef, and ham into small pieces.
Melt the butter in a large pot, then add the meat and bones.
Add the anchovies, mace, cleaned and chopped celery leaves, and thinly sliced carrots.
Cover the pot and cook over moderate heat until the gravy begins to draw.
Remove the gravy and add enough water to cover the meat.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 4 hours.
Strain and reduce
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean pot.
Boil the strained liquid until it reduces by three-quarters.
Add the reserved gravy and boil gently, skimming off the fat until it thickens.
Season with cayenne pepper to taste.
Set and cut
Pour the mixture into flat dishes, about ¼ inch thick, and let it cool overnight.
Cut into rounds using a cutter slightly larger than a coin.
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.
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Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,370 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Mace + carrottop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the soup body and helping it set when cooled.
- Beef
- Adds meaty depth and extra gelatin from its bones, supporting body and a firm set.
- Ham
- Contributes savoury, salty meat flavour to the long-simmered stock.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and gives a smooth mouthfeel.
- Anchovies
- Melt into the stock, adding salty, savoury depth that rounds out the flavour.
- Carrots
- Add gentle sweetness and aromatic body to the stock.
The step that matters
Skimming fat while boiling gently. Fat left in the reduced stock can turn the set jelly greasy and cloudy. A gentle boil keeps the liquid clear and lets it thicken as the gelatin concentrates.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, ham, butter, celery, carrot):
- Parsleyfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, ham, butter, celery, carrot. 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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