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Mock Fish Soup

A soup made with potato flour balls, carrots, parsnip, onion, green pepper, and milk, seasoned with cayenne, mace, salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mock Fish Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the egg balls

  1. Combine a tablespoonful of white flour and two tablespoonfuls of Groult's potato flour, add a tablespoonful of butter and a cup of milk, mix, and place in a saucepan over low heat.

  2. Stir constantly until the mixture is smooth and no longer sticks to the pan.

  3. Remove from the heat and let cool.

  4. Beat in two eggs, one at a time.

  5. Season with a dash of cayenne, a few grains of powdered mace, a few drops of onion juice, a little salt, and half a teaspoonful of sugar.

  6. Cook and drain the balls as the spinach balls are done, using a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon.

  7. Set the cooked balls aside while the soup is being made.

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, combine three French carrots, half a parsnip, half a white onion, and a little green pepper, cover with boiling water, and cook until tender.

  2. Melt a generous tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan; when it bubbles, stir in a small tablespoonful of flour, then add three cups of milk and bring to a boil.

  3. Stir the cooked vegetables into the thickened milk along with the water they were boiled in, adding half a teaspoonful of sugar, salt, and pepper to taste.

  4. Add the cooked balls to the soup and bring to a boil; add a teaspoonful of finely minced parsley and remove from the heat.

  5. Beat one egg yolk with two tablespoonfuls of cream, then stir it in carefully to avoid breaking the balls just before transferring the soup to the tureen.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1083Calories
33 gProtein
32 gFat
166 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 14 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Soupnot 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 Henrietta Latham Dwight. 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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the flour paste into soft balls and enrich the custard-like texture of the balls.
Potato flour
Thickens the paste and gives the balls a smooth, tender body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the soup and the thickened sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor in the paste and the sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and smoothness to the finishing egg yolk mixture.
White flour
Thickens the milk sauce and helps set the paste.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk and cream. Egg yolk thickens when heated, so stirring it in off the heat and gently, just before serving, keeps it smooth and prevents curdling or breaking the delicate balls.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, flour, milk, cream, butter, sugar, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, milk, cream, butter, sugar, egg. 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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