Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and celery share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 75 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Artichoke Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the artichokes and soak them in a basin of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar to preserve their whiteness.
Slice the onion, celery, and artichokes.
Make the soup
Heat the butter or fat in a saucepan and fry the vegetables for 10 to 15 minutes without browning.
Pour in the stock and boil until the vegetables are tender.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.
Return the strained liquid to the saucepan.
Add the milk and seasoning.
Bring to a boil and serve.
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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Jerusalem artichoke + celerytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together75 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Jerusalem artichoke + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together140 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
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Provide the main body and starch that thickens the puréed soup.
- Butter or good cooking fat
- Carries the flavour of the vegetables and gives the soup a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the soup's flavour and texture.
- Onion
- Builds a savoury aromatic base when fried gently in fat.
The step that matters
Fry the vegetables without browning. Gentle frying softens the vegetables and draws out their flavour. Browning would add bitter, toasted notes that clash with the pale, delicate soup the recipe aims for.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, jerusalem artichoke, celery, butter, pepper):
- Leekfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, jerusalem artichoke, celery, butter, pepper. 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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