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Soup

Leek Soup

Soup made from sheep's head, leeks, oatmeal thickener, seasoned with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Leek Soup

Why it works: Leek and pepper work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 965 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Leek Soup

10 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Prepare the sheep's head by skinning or cleaning the skin very nicely.

  2. Split the head in two.

  3. Remove the brains and place the head into boiling water.

Make the soup

  1. Add the leeks and seasoning, and simmer gently for 4 hours.

Thicken and serve

  1. Mix oatmeal with cold water until it thickens.

  2. Pour the oatmeal mixture into the soup.

  3. Stir until blended and well done, then serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

50Calories
1 gProtein
0 gFat
12 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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.

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. Leek + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together965 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Leeks
Add a mild, sweet onion-like flavour to the broth as they simmer.
Oatmeal (in the method)
Its starch thickens the broth as it heats, giving a fuller body.

The step that matters

Adding the oatmeal mixture. Starch granules swell and thicken only when heated, and they clump if added unevenly. Pour the oatmeal mixture into the hot soup while stirring steadily so it disperses evenly and thickens without lumps.

“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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