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Artichoke Soup

A soup of Jerusalem artichokes, celery, leeks, cream, and lemon juice, served hot with crisp bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Margaret · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Artichoke Soup

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine 4 quarts of white stock with 2 dozen Jerusalem artichokes, 2 sticks of white celery, 1 dozen white parts of leeks (1 oz), and cream of rice.

  2. Add 1 dessert spoon of lemon juice or vinegar to the mixture.

  3. Soak the vegetables in enough stock to cover for twenty minutes, with the lemon juice or vinegar added to prevent discoloring.

  4. Prepare a few thin slices of bread (2 inches by 3 inches).

Make the soup

  1. Simmer the mixture for two hours.

  2. Press the soup through a hair sieve, return to saucepan, and add cream, salt, and pepper before serving hot.

  3. Add 1 pint of cream or milk, pepper, and salt.

Bake and serve

  1. Cut the bread into very thin slices, 2 inches by 3 inches, and bake in the oven until crisp pale brown.

  2. Serve the soup with the crisp bread.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

75Calories
1 gProtein
6 gFat
7 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
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.

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

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

  2. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,863 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Jerusalem artichokes (in the method)
Give the soup its main body and earthy, nutty flavour.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
White stock
Provides the liquid base that carries the vegetable flavour and softens the vegetables.
White celery
Adds a fresh, savoury aroma that rounds out the soup's flavour.
Leeks (in the method)
Contribute mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the base.

The step that matters

Soak the vegetables with lemon juice or vinegar. Artichokes discolour quickly when cut because their compounds oxidise on contact with air. The acid slows this browning, keeping the soup pale and appetising.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Limefits about as well
  3. Avocadofits less well
  4. Mangofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, cream, pepper. 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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