Name: Consomme Aux Fine Herbs
Ingredients: 3 pints consomme; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 teaspoon chopped chives or green onions; chervil to taste

Why it works: Chive and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 370 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Consomme Aux Fine Herbs

Ingredients

3 pints consomme
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped chives or green onions
chervil to taste

Directions

In a pot, combine 3 pints of consommé.
Add 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon of chopped chives or green onions, and chervil to taste.
Heat the mixture until very hot and serve.

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.

Chive + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together370 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together774 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,150 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

Consommé: Forms the clear savory liquid base that carries the herb flavors.
Parsley: Adds fresh, grassy aroma and a clean green flavor to the broth.
Chives or green onions: Contribute a mild, fresh onion-like aroma and a bright bite.