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Chicken Soup

A clear soup made by simmering chicken with water, salt, onion, celery, pepper, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Chicken Soup

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Select an old hen.

  2. Singe, clean, and joint the chicken.

  3. Salt the chicken and let it stand for several hours or overnight.

Make the soup

  1. Put the chicken in cold water and bring it to a boil quickly.

  2. Skim thoroughly for a clear soup.

  3. Let the soup simmer slowly for 3 or more hours.

  4. Add the vegetables and boil for 1 hour longer.

  5. Take out the chicken before it falls apart.

  6. Strain the soup.

  7. Remove the fat.

  8. Add seasoning to taste.

Serve

  1. Use the chicken for salads, croquettes, or with brown sauce.

  2. Serve the soup hot with noodles or any soup garnishes.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Celery + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the meat and flavour-rich body for the broth and the cooked meat for later use.
Celery
Adds aromatic flavour to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Skim thoroughly after the water reaches a boil. Impurities and coagulated proteins rise to the surface as the water heats. Removing them keeps the soup clear, while letting it boil hard would break them up and cloud the broth.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, celery, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, celery, 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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