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 ↓
Fish Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Stew the fresh fish with vegetables and sweet herbs.
Strain the liquid into a soup pot.
Add any seasoning you like, including celery and cayenne pepper for extra flavor.
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.
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,948 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Fish + celerytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together353 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the celery
The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper):
- Parsleyfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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