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Clear Soup

A clear beef soup made with a beef shank, water, celery, tomatoes, mace, herbs, and clarified with egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Clear Soup

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Take one large beef shank, split the bones, and slightly roast the meat.

  2. Add six quarts of water, one can of tomatoes, one bunch of celery chopped fine, two or three blades of mace, and a bunch of soup herbs.

  3. Boil all together for six or eight hours.

  4. Strain the soup through a colander and set it aside until the next day.

  5. After the soup becomes cold, remove all grease.

  6. Reheat the soup on the stove until it becomes warm, then clarify it with the whites of three well-beaten eggs.

  7. Before serving, add a small quantity of red pepper. If the soup is too light in color, stir in a spoonful of burnt sugar, one teaspoon of tournades, or kitchen bouquet.

Make the flour balls

  1. Combine one pound flour, half a pound chopped suet, one teaspoon salt, and a quarter teaspoon pepper. Moisten with water until a stiff paste forms.

  2. Shape the mixture into balls and use them in savory pies, hash stews, or soups.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

852Calories
46 gProtein
22 gFat
112 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Soupnot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

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

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. See the original page.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Celery + beeftop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Celery + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,905 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shank
Gives the soup its meaty flavour and body as it simmers for hours.
Eggs
Whites bind fine particles during clarifying, leaving the soup clear.
Flour
Forms a stiff paste that holds the flour balls together.
Suet (in the method)
Adds fat to the flour paste, keeping the balls rich and tender.

The step that matters

Remove all grease after the soup cools. Fat that is not skimmed while the soup is cold would float and cloud the broth, spoiling its clear appearance.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, flour, sugar, pepper, beef, egg):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, flour, sugar, pepper, beef, 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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