Name: Creme De Celeri {Celery Cream}
Ingredients: 2 heads young celery; 1 small onion, peeled and sliced; 2 oz. butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 quart white stock; ½ pint cream or milk; 2 yolks of eggs; salt to taste; pepper to taste; a pinch of castor sugar

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 ↓

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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 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

Celery: Provides the main flavour and bulk of the soup, softening into a tender purée-like body.
Butter: Carries the aroma of the onion and celery and adds richness to the soup.
Flour: Thickens the stock into a smooth, body-rich base as it cooks.
White stock: Forms the liquid base that the celery and flour cook into soup.
Cream or milk: Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the finished soup.
Egg yolks: Enrich and further thicken the soup, giving it a velvety texture when stirred in.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg yolks into the soup. Egg yolks can curdle and turn grainy if they meet a hot liquid directly. Mixing them with cream first and stirring gently into the soup helps them blend smoothly and thicken it evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, butter, flour, cream, egg, pepper, sugar):

Leekfits better
Spinachfits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, butter, flour, cream, egg, pepper, sugar. 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.

Creme De Celeri {Celery Cream}