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Barley Soup with Marrow Dumplings

A barley soup made with marrow bone, vegetables, and dumplings of marrow, bread crumbs, butter, egg, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Barley Soup with Marrow Dumplings

eight persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Remove the marrow from the bone and set in a cold place.

  2. Boil the bone and all the finely cut vegetables for about two hours.

  3. Add barley and boil half an hour longer.

Make and cook the dumplings

  1. Cream the marrow and butter until quite smooth, add whole egg, salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg.

  2. Add bread-crumbs until very dry, form quickly into small balls with the hands well floured, and boil in the soup closely covered for five minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

118Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
8 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Dumplingnot 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 Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together879 recipes

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

  4. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Marrow (in the method)
Enriches the dumplings with fat, giving them a rich, tender body.
Egg
Binds the dumpling mixture so the balls hold their shape while cooking.
Bread-crumbs (in the method)
Absorb moisture and give the dumplings body so they keep their shape.
Barley (in the method)
Thickens the broth and adds a chewy texture as it cooks.

The step that matters

Drying the dumpling mixture. If the mixture is not dry enough, the balls will be soft and may fall apart in the simmering soup. Adding bread-crumbs until very dry helps them hold their shape, and keeping the hands floured stops sticking.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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