Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
★ Soup Balls--Choux Batter
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Heat 1 cup water and 2 tablespoons butter or oil to boiling.
Stir in 1 cup pastry flour, stirring and beating well to form a batter.
When the mixture is nearly cold, add 4 eggs one at a time, mixing well until all are incorporated.
Beat the batter for 5 minutes.
Let the batter stand in an ice box for 1 to 12 or more hours.
Cook and serve
Drop small quantities of batter from a spoon into boiling soup, or bake or boil in tiny balls, flattened.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 4 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Pastry | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Pastry flour
- Provides the starch and structure that hold the batter together as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, setting as the balls cook and binding the batter.
- Butter or oil (in the method)
- Adds fat to the boiling water, giving the batter tenderness and richness.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs to the nearly cold mixture. If the mixture is still hot, the eggs can scramble instead of blending smoothly. Adding them one at a time and mixing well lets each egg fully incorporate, giving a smooth batter that holds its shape.
“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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