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Sorrel Soup

A soup made from sorrel, lettuce, chervil, butter, flour, water, broth, cream, egg yolks, served with toasted French rolls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Sorrel Soup

Why it works: Sorrel and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 247 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Sorrel Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the herbs

  1. Cut the sorrel, lettuce, and chervil into fine shreds.

Make the soup

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon.

  2. Add the flour and cook for 10 minutes, stirring well to avoid lumps.

  3. Slowly add the boiling water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

  4. Season with salt and pepper, then add the broth after 20 minutes.

  5. In a bowl, mix the cream with the egg yolks, beat well, and strain through a sieve.

  6. Add the cream mixture and remaining butter to the soup, stirring until melted.

Serve

  1. Slice the French rolls, brown them in the oven, and place in a soup tureen.

  2. Pour the soup over the rolls and serve.

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. Sorrel + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together247 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Lettuce + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together396 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Sorrel + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Sorrel + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together231 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sorrel
Provides the sharp, lemony acidity that defines the soup's flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving the soup a smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the butter and water mixture, giving the soup body.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the cream, giving a smooth, velvety texture.
Cream
Adds fat and softness, mellowing the sorrel's sharpness.
French rolls
Soak up the soup and brown in the oven, adding texture and bulk.

The step that matters

Adding the cream and egg yolk mixture. Egg yolks can curdle if the soup is too hot when they go in. Stir the mixture in gradually and keep the soup below a boil so it thickens smoothly instead of scrambling.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sorrel, chervil, butter, flour, pepper, cream, egg):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sorrel, chervil, butter, flour, pepper, cream, egg. 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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