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Ox-Cheek Soup

A hearty soup made from ox cheek, ham, celery, onions, carrots, parsnip, beets, mace, and vermicelli, simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Ox-Cheek Soup

Why it works: Carrot and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Ox-Cheek Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cheek

  1. Break the bones of the ox cheek and wash it thoroughly in several waters.

  2. Soak the cheek in warm water with a little salt to remove slime, then wash it well.

Make the soup

  1. In a large stewpan, melt the butter and place the flesh side of the cheek down.

  2. Add the sliced ham, chopped celery, onions, carrots, parsnip, beets, and mace.

  3. Cook over moderate heat for 15 minutes to extract flavors from the vegetables.

  4. Add 6 quarts of water and simmer until reduced to 2 quarts.

  5. Strain the soup, removing the meat and vegetables.

  6. Add chopped white celery and browning sauce for color if desired.

Finish and serve

  1. Scald the vermicelli in the soup and serve with a French roll in the center of a tureen.

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. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Celery + parsniptop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together561 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox cheek
Gives the soup its rich, meaty body and deep beefy flavor as it simmers.
Butter
Melts to carry fat and help the cheek and vegetables brown gently before the water goes in.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften and release their flavor into the broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savory flavor to the stock as it cooks down.
Vermicelli
Thin pasta that adds bulk and a soft texture when scalded in the soup.

The step that matters

Simmering the soup down to 2 quarts. Simmering concentrates the flavor of the meat and vegetables. Too fast a boil can cloud the broth, while stopping early leaves it thin and weak.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ham, celery, onion, carrot, parsnip, sauce):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, celery, onion, carrot, parsnip, sauce. 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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