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Giblet Soup

A savory soup made from goose giblets, herbs, onions, shallots, spices, wine, broth, eggs, and forcemeat balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Giblet Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the giblets

  1. Blanch the giblets and add them to a pot with the chopped herbs, onions, shallots, beaten spices, pepper, salt, and water.

  2. Cook until the giblets are three-quarters done, then remove them from the pot and chop them finely.

Make the soup

  1. In a separate pot, melt the butter and mix with flour over low heat for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the Madeira or sherry wine, strained giblet liquid, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and beef broth to the butter mixture.

  3. Bring to a boil, then add the chopped giblets, boiled eggs, and forcemeat balls.

  4. Let it stew gently until the giblets are tender, skimming off any fat.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Giblets
Provide the main meat and rich flavour that the soup is built around.
Butter
Carries flavour and, with flour, forms a roux that thickens the soup.
Flour
Combines with the melted butter to form a roux that thickens the broth.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, building the base flavour of the soup.
Madeira or sherry wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the broth.
Beef broth
Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries its savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Cooking the butter and flour. Cooking the roux over low heat for the full time cooks out the raw starch taste and lets the flour thicken the broth smoothly when liquid is added. Heat that is too high can scorch the flour and leave it dark and bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, shallot, pepper, butter):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, shallot, pepper, butter. 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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