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 ↓
Celery Cream Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Grate the white part of the celery on a bread grater.
Add the grated celery to the strained rice milk.
Pour in the strong white stock and bring to a boil.
Cook until the celery is perfectly tender.
Season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Finish and serve
If using, stir in the cream before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,169 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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, once cooked until tender, thickens the soup into a smooth body.
- Rice milk
- Forms the creamy liquid base that the grated celery cooks into.
- Strong white stock
- Adds savoury depth and body to the liquid base.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Cook until the celery is perfectly tender. Grated celery must be cooked fully so its fibres soften; under-cooked celery leaves the soup grainy and tasting raw, while proper cooking lets the starches and fibres break down into a smooth texture.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, pepper, cream):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Celerythe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, pepper, cream. 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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