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Soup

White Soup

A clear veal broth made with knuckle of veal, carrot, turnip, onions, bay leaf, pepper, salt, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large pot, combine the veal and water.

Simmer

  1. Simmer slowly for 2 hours.

  2. Add the chopped carrot, turnip, and onions.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises.

  4. Continue to cook for another 2 hours.

  5. Strain the stock for use.

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 + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 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

Knuckle of veal
Provides flavor and gelatin that gives the finished broth body.
Onions
Add aromatic sweetness and depth to the broth as they simmer.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aromatic flavor to the broth.
Turnip
Contributes mild, earthy flavor to the simmering broth.

The step that matters

Skim off any scum that rises. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that cloud the broth and can taint its flavor if left to recirculate. Removing it early keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, turnip, onion, clove):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, turnip, onion, clove. 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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