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Soup Maigre

A light rice soup with butter, milk, eggs, onion, and carrot.

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

Soup Maigre

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the rice

  1. Wash the rice well in two waters.

  2. Put the rice into a saucepan with 4 cups of cold water, the whole onion, and carrot.

Cook the soup

  1. As the rice begins to swell, add more boiling water until it reaches the right consistency.

  2. Remove the onion and carrot, then stir in the butter a small piece at a time.

  3. Beat the yolks of the eggs in a bowl, stir them in quickly, and bring to a boil without letting it boil over.

  4. Season with salt and serve immediately with tiny rusks of bread.

Make the rusks

  1. To make rusks, cut a dry crust into small pieces, dip them in water, and bake until crisp at 350°F (175°C).

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. 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. Rice + carrottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

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

  5. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 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

Rice
Swells as it cooks, thickening the soup and giving it body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel when stirred in at the end.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich and thicken the soup, adding smoothness and body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softness to the soup's texture.
Onion
Flavors the cooking water and is removed before serving.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the cooking water and is removed before serving.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently, but if the soup boils after they go in, they can curdle and turn grainy. Stir them in quickly and keep the mixture from boiling over, as the record directs.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, milk, egg, onion):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, milk, egg, onion. 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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