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Soup a LA Reine

A chicken broth with rice, herbs, and a puréed chicken mixture, finished with hot cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Soup a LA Reine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Put a chicken into three quarts of water. Simmer it slowly for two hours, or until the chicken is very tender.

  2. A half hour before removing it add a half pound of rice and a bouquet containing one root of parsley, one sprig of thyme, a thin slice of onion, and a stick of celery.

  3. Boil it until the rice is soft, then strain through a colander.

  4. Let the broth cool and remove the grease.

Make the puree

  1. Remove the white meat from the bones of the chicken, put it with the rice in a mortar, and pound both to a pulp.

  2. Pass the pulp through a puree sieve, moistening it with a little stock to make it pass through easier.

Finish and serve

  1. When ready to serve, add the puree to the stock, season with salt and pepper, and heat it thoroughly without boiling.

  2. Just before sending it to the table add a half pint of hot cream.

  3. If desired, thicken the soup with a little roux or with fifteen blanched almonds chopped and pounded to a paste, using a little cream to prevent the almonds from oiling.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

274Calories
5 gProtein
6 gFat
49 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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 Mary Ronald. 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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Cooks down to a soft pulp that gives the soup body and thickness.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished soup.
Chicken (in the method)
Gives the broth its main flavour and, pounded, the body of the puree.

The step that matters

Heating the puree without boiling. Once the cream is added, boiling can cause it to curdle or separate, and it can make the puree grainy or oily. Heat it gently until hot throughout.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Turmericfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cream, celery, parsley, 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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