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Chicken Soup

A clear soup made from an old hen, water, celery root, onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and noodles or dumplings.

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 hen

  1. Singe the hen.

  2. Clean the hen.

  3. Joint the hen.

  4. Salt the hen.

  5. Let the hen stand for several hours or overnight.

Make the soup

  1. Place the hen in a pot with cold water.

  2. Bring the pot to a quick boil.

  3. Skim the surface thoroughly.

  4. Let the soup simmer slowly for three or more hours.

  5. Add diced celery root, onion, and nutmeg.

  6. Boil for one hour longer.

  7. Strain the soup.

  8. Remove the fat.

  9. Season to taste.

  10. Remove the chicken before it falls apart.

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

Serve

  1. Serve the soup hot with noodles, dumplings, or other 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. Celery + oniontop 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. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Old hen
Provides the meat and rich flavour that build the body of the broth.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the broth as it simmers.
Celery root
Contributes a mild, earthy aroma that rounds out the soup's flavour.

The step that matters

Skim the surface thoroughly. Coagulated proteins and fat rise to the surface as the water heats. Removing them while the soup is clear keeps the broth clean-tasting and prevents it from turning cloudy and greasy during the long simmer.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, pepper, nutmeg. 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.

More chicken soup recipes

White 9Almond 8Creamy 7Friar's 6Plain 5with Dumplings 3 See all 163 →

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