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Soup

Tapioca Cream

A creamy soup made with tapioca, egg yolks, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Tapioca Cream

Why it works: Cream and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Tapioca Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tapioca base

  1. Pour the white stock into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

  2. Gradually stir in the tapioca once the stock is boiling.

  3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer until the tapioca is clear.

Enrich and finish

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks with the cream or milk and stir gently.

  2. Strain the egg mixture into another bowl.

  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and place it on a trivet.

  4. Once the stock has cooled slightly, gradually add a few tablespoons to the egg mixture, stirring continuously to prevent curdling.

  5. Combine this mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining stock and stir well.

  6. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

  7. Reheat the soup gently without boiling before serving.

  8. Serve in a hot soup tureen.

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. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tapioca
Thickens the stock as it simmers, becoming clear and giving the soup body.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and add thickness and richness when gently heated.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and smoothness, softening the egg yolks before they are combined.
White stock
Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the flavor.

The step that matters

Tempering the egg mixture. Adding hot stock to the egg yolks too quickly can scramble them. Adding a little at a time while stirring gradually raises their temperature so they blend smoothly and thicken the soup without curdling.

“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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