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Vermicelli Soup

A lamb and veal broth with vermicelli, onions, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Vermicelli Soup

Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Vermicelli Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the lamb and veal in a pot and cover with water.

  2. Cook until the meat is well done.

  3. Season the broth with salt, pepper, herbs, add the onion and Worcestershire sauce.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the vermicelli in a separate pot until tender.

  2. Strain the soup from the meat, add the vermicelli, and let it boil well before serving.

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. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lamb + vealtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together568 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Lamb + oniontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,407 recipes

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

  5. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb knuckle
Gives the broth its meaty body and rich savory flavor as it simmers.
Veal
Adds gelatin and depth to the broth, giving it a fuller mouthfeel.
Vermicelli
Provides the starchy noodles that soften and thicken the soup slightly as they cook.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aromatic depth to the seasoned broth.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds acidity and savory, umami-rich flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Boil the vermicelli separately until tender. Cooking noodles directly in the broth releases starch that clouds the soup and makes it gummy. Boiling them in a separate pot and adding them later keeps the broth clear and the noodles at the right texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, veal, pepper, sauce):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, veal, pepper, sauce. 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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