Name: Mock Turtle Soup
Ingredients: Boiled chicken; Tongue; Water; Vegetables (carrots, onions, celery); Herbs (parsley, thyme); Salt; Pepper; Lemon juice; Eggs (optional)

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

In a large pot, combine boiled chicken, tongue, and enough water to cover.
Add chopped vegetables and herbs, then season with salt and pepper.
Simmer for 1-2 hours until flavors meld.
Strain the soup, discarding solids, and return liquid to pot.
Add lemon juice and whisk in beaten eggs if desired.
Serve hot.

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.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, pepper, lemon):

Parsnipfits better
Leekfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, pepper, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.