Skip to main content
Main

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

A soup of leeks, chicken, rice, and stock, finished with lemon peel, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and parsley.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

Timeabout 20 minutes simmer

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If the soup is to be made ahead, add the rice just before serving to prevent it from overcooking.

Make the soup

  1. In saucepan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat.

  2. Cook leeks, covered, for about 5 minutes or until softened.

  3. Add chicken; cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for about 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

  4. Stir in stock, rice, lemon peel and bay leaf.

  5. Bring to boil.

  6. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

  7. Discard lemon peel and bay leaf.

  8. Stir in salt and pepper.

Serve

  1. Sprinkle with parsley.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

555Calories
37 gProtein
18 gFat
61 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Leek + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together759 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Leeks
Soften during cooking and add a mild, sweet onion-like flavour to the broth.
Chicken breasts
Provide the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
Chicken stock
Forms the liquid base that carries flavour and cooks the rice.
Long-grain rice
Absorbs liquid and swells as it simmers, thickening the soup slightly and adding body.

The step that matters

Add the rice at the right time for make-ahead soup. Rice keeps absorbing liquid while it stands, so it turns soft and mushy if the soup is stored with it already cooked in. Adding it just before serving keeps its texture intact.

Swap the leek

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, lemon, pepper, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, lemon, pepper, parsley. 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesLemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipes