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Potage De Macaroni a LA Saint-pierre

A French macaroni soup with crayfish butter, Parmesan, fish roe, and salmon fillets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Potage De Macaroni a LA Saint-pierre

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the consommé as indicated in the macaroni soup recipe.

  2. Reduce the consommé by half.

  3. Blanch 6 ounces of macaroni in boiling water for a few minutes.

  4. Simmer the macaroni with 4 ounces of crayfish butter and the reduced consommé for 30 minutes.

Assemble and serve

  1. Layer the bottom of a soup tureen with macaroni.

  2. Sprinkle with ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Add a layer of fish roe and crayfish tails.

  4. Top with more Parmesan cheese and a layer of quenelles.

  5. Add another layer of macaroni, more Parmesan, and a layer of salmon fillets.

  6. Finish with Parmesan cheese on top.

  7. Serve the remaining consommé separately.

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.

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. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Crayfish + whitingtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Roe + salmontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Crayfish + roetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together36 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Roe + whitingtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the dish, giving body and a starchy, chewy texture to the soup.
Crayfish butter
Adds richness and a rounded crayfish flavour that carries through the consommé.
Parmesan cheese
Melts into the hot layers, adding savoury, salty depth and a little binding richness.
Reduced consommé
Provides the clear, savoury liquid that the macaroni simmers in and absorbs.
Quenelles of whiting
Give a delicate, soft, mild-fish texture contrasting the pasta layers.

The step that matters

Simmer the macaroni in the consommé. Simmering for the full 30 minutes lets the pasta soften and absorb flavour from the consommé and butter. Cooking too briefly leaves it firm and bland, while overcooking makes it mushy and cloudy.

“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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