Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Curry Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Season the veal broth with onions, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Strain the broth and add the chicken pieces.
Stir in the curry powder and boil the chicken until tender.
Finish and serve
Before serving, add the lemon juice and boiling cream.
Serve with boiled rice.
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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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,769 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal broth
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.
- Chicken
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as it simmers in the broth.
- Curry powder
- Adds the spiced aroma that defines the dish.
- Cream
- Adds richness and softens the sharpness of the lemon and curry.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the cream and lemon juice. Cream can curdle or split when it meets acid and prolonged boiling. Adding the lemon juice and boiling cream just before serving, rather than earlier in the cooking, helps keep the soup smooth.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, parsley, pepper, chicken, lemon, cream, rice):
- Carrotfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, parsley, pepper, chicken, lemon, cream, rice. 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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