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Egg Soup

A vegetable and egg soup made with stock, cream, and eggs, seasoned with mace and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,418 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Egg Soup

8 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Thicken and simmer

  1. Beat flour in a teaspoonful of cold stock, then add the eggs.

  2. Throw the mixture into boiling stock, stirring constantly.

  3. Simmer for 15 minutes.

  4. Season and serve with a French roll or fried bread.

Cook the vegetables

  1. Put the vegetables in butter and stew gently for an hour with a teacupful of stock.

  2. Add the remainder of the stock and simmer for another hour.

Finish the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks, mix with boiled cream, and strain through a hair sieve.

  2. Take the soup off the fire, add the eggs and stir well.

  3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.

  4. Season with salt and add sugar.

Vegetable soup

  1. Slice onions, celery, and potatoes.

  2. Place them with butter and water in a stewpan and simmer for an hour.

  3. Add the stock and boil gently until the potatoes are done, about an hour.

  4. Rub all through a tammy.

  5. Add the boiled cream, and do not let it boil after the cream is added.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

997Calories
35 gProtein
13 gFat
188 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 15 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Turnip1 medium (122g)34
Asparagus6 spears (90g)27
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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 Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Asparagus + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Asparagus + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

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

  4. Flour + turniptop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Celery + asparagustop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together378 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the soup and enrich it as they set in the hot stock.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the soup.
Flour
Thickens the liquid and helps the egg mixture blend smoothly.
Potatoes
Break down during simmering to give the soup body.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and depth as they stew in butter.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs and cream without boiling. Once the eggs and cream go in, the soup must stay just below a boil and be stirred constantly. Overheating sets the egg proteins suddenly, so the soup curdles instead of thickening smoothly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, asparagus, peas, cream, flour, egg, turnip):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, asparagus, peas, cream, flour, egg, turnip. 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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