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Soup

Potage De Macaroni a LA Reggio

A hearty soup of veal, ham, and macaroni simmered in consommé and served with Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Reggio

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the consommé

  1. Prepare the consommé according to the recipe for macaroni soup.

  2. Reduce the consommé by one third.

Cook the veal and ham

  1. Cook the veal in the consommé for two hours, then drain and cool.

  2. Remove the nerves and excess fat from the veal, and cut it into large cubes.

  3. Simmer the veal cubes with the consommé and the chopped ham for three hours.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Blanch the macaroni in boiling water, then drain.

  2. Simmer the macaroni with half of the remaining consommé, butter, and white pepper.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a serving dish, layer the bottom with macaroni, sprinkle with Parmesan, add a layer of ham and veal, then repeat with more macaroni and Parmesan.

  2. Serve the remaining consommé separately in a silver pot, with cheese on the side.

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. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Ham + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together144 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Veal + white peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal shank
Becomes tender and gelatinous during long simmering, giving body and rich flavour to the soup.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the layers and the simmered broth.
Small macaroni
Provides starchy bulk and a soft, absorbent texture that holds the layered dish together.
Butter
Adds fat for a silky mouthfeel and rich flavour to the macaroni.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savoury umami flavour and helps bind the layers as it melts.

The step that matters

Simmer the veal gently for three hours. A rolling boil toughens meat proteins and can cloud the consommé. A gentle simmer lets collagen slowly break down into gelatin, keeping the veal tender and the broth clear.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, butter, parmesan cheese):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Pepperfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, butter, parmesan cheese. 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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