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Cream of Celery Soup

A creamy soup made with milk, celery, and spices, finished with butter and optional whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Cream of Celery Soup

Why it works: Pepper and celery 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 ↓

Cream of Celery Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Combine milk, flour, cornstarch, a dash of red pepper, a slice of onion, and a blade of mace in a double boiler and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the celery pieces, previously boiled and mashed in salted water, to the mixture.

  3. Strain the soup when well blended.

  4. Stir in the butter over low heat until fully blended.

Serve

  1. Serve the soup in a hot tureen, then add whipped cream if desired.

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.

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.

  1. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base that gives the soup its body and creamy richness.
Flour
Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the soup body.
Cornstarch
Adds further thickening so the soup becomes smooth and velvety.
Celery
Provides the main flavor and, once mashed, the soup's bulk and texture.
Butter
Adds fat that gives a smooth, rich mouthfeel and a silkier finish.

The step that matters

Bringing the milk, flour and cornstarch to a boil. Flour and cornstarch must be fully heated in the liquid to swell and thicken. Stirring keeps the starches dispersed, which prevents lumps and a pasty texture.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, pepper, onion, celery, butter, cream):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, pepper, onion, celery, butter, 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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