Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Soup Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Use the shank of fresh meat for soup stock.
Wash the meat and put it in cold water with one spoonful of salt.
When it comes to a boil, skim off the scum and set the kettle to boil slowly for ten hours.
Strain and clarify
Then strain the stock into a bright tin or stone pot.
In the morning, skim off all the fat, turn the jelly out, and remove all the sediment.
Use the stock and meat
Use the meat for hash.
Do not boil vegetables with this stock as it causes it to sour quickly.
Use celery in all kinds of soup when you can obtain it.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Halibut | 100g cooked | 140 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + oniontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,418 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Halibut
- Provides the flavour and body of the stock as it simmers for hours.
- Milk
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the finished soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup by absorbing liquid and swelling when heated.
The step that matters
Keep the stock from boiling hard, and do not add vegetables. A gentle simmer keeps the stock clear, while boiling vigorously can cloud it. Vegetables added to this stock make it sour quickly, so the stock may spoil before use.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Potatofits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour. 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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