Name: Vegetable Stock
Ingredients: 2 cups haricot beans; 2 oz split peas; 1 onion, chopped; 1 carrot, chopped; 1 stick of celery, chopped; parsley, to taste; herbs, to taste; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 3 cloves; 1 blade of mace

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. 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.

Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,443 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Haricot beans: Break down during long simmering to add body and thickness to the stock.
Split peas: Dissolve during long simmering, adding body and a fuller texture to the liquid.
Onion: Releases sugars and aromatic compounds that give the stock savory depth.
Carrot: Adds natural sweetness and mild aroma as it softens in the simmering water.
Celery: Contributes savory, aromatic flavour compounds to the stock during simmering.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface. Long simmering pushes foam and impurities to the surface. Skimming regularly removes them, keeping the stock clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or bitter.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, pepper, clove):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, pepper, clove. 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.

Vegetable Stock