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Macaroni or Vermicelli Soup

A beef broth soup with macaroni or vermicelli, tomatoes, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Macaroni or Vermicelli Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Cook the macaroni or vermicelli in boiling salted water until tender.

  2. Drain and pour cold water over it, then lay the sticks close together.

  3. Cut into 1-inch pieces and add to a plain soup stock.

Make the bouillon

  1. For the bouillon, combine beef, bones, water, salt, cloves, bay leaf, celery root, mixed herbs, and peppercorns in a pot.

  2. Boil down to 2 quarts, then remove the fat and clarify.

Finish the soup

  1. Add more seasoning if desired, then stir in the stock and canned tomatoes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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 + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

  4. Clove + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef from the round
Gives the bouillon its meaty flavor and body as it simmers down.
Bones
Release gelatin and flavor into the water, adding body to the bouillon.
Macaroni or vermicelli
Provides the starchy pasta pieces that give the soup its substance.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a tangy, rounded flavor to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Boil down to 2 quarts, then remove the fat and clarify. Reducing concentrates the flavor of the bouillon, while skimming fat keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy mouthfeel.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, tomato):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, tomato. 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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