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Duchess Soup

A creamy soup of carrot, onion, and stock thickened with butter, flour, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Duchess Soup

Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Duchess Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. Cook the carrot and onion in ½ tablespoon of butter for 3 minutes.

  2. Add the white stock and mace, then boil for 15 minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture and add the scalded milk.

Thicken and serve

  1. In a separate pan, melt the remaining butter and mix with flour to thicken.

  2. Stir the thickened mixture into the soup, then add salt, pepper, and cheese.

  3. Serve as soon as the cheese is melted.

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.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Enriches the soup and, with flour, forms a roux that thickens it.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked with butter into a roux.
Milk
Adds creaminess and body to the soup.
Mild cheese
Adds richness and flavour, melting into the soup for a smooth finish.
White stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.

The step that matters

Stir the thickened mixture into the soup. Adding a roux to hot liquid without first blending it smoothly can leave lumps, because flour clumps when it meets liquid unevenly. Whisking steadily while adding it keeps the soup smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, carrot, onion, cheese, butter, flour, milk):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, carrot, onion, cheese, butter, flour, milk. 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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