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Ox-cheek Soup

A soup made from ox cheek, butter, ham, celery, onions, carrots, parsnip, mace, vermicelli, served over a French roll.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 meat

  1. Break the bones and wash the ox cheek thoroughly.

  2. In a large stew-pan, melt the butter and place the cheek with the fleshy side down.

Make the soup

  1. Add the ham, celery, onions, carrots, parsnip, and mace.

  2. Cook over moderate heat for 15 minutes.

  3. Pour in the warm water and let it simmer until reduced to 2 quarts.

  4. Remove the cheek and strain the soup to clear it of vegetables.

  5. Add browning for color and the boiled white part of a head of celery.

  6. Scald the vermicelli and add it to the soup, boiling for 10 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve the soup over a French roll.

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
Provides rich meat and gelatin that give the soup body and depth of flavor.
Butter
Carries the heat for the first browning stage and adds richness to the soup.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty flavor that seasons the broth.
Onions
Build the aromatic base, adding sweetness as they cook down.
Vermicelli
Thickens the soup slightly and adds starchy texture as it boils.
French roll
Soaks up the broth and serves as the base for the soup.

The step that matters

Simmering down to 2 quarts. Reducing the water slowly concentrates flavor and gelatin from the cheek and bones. Stopping too early leaves the soup thin and weak, while over-reducing can make it too salty and strong.

Swap the mace

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

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

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