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Soup

Clear Soup

A clear soup made with stock, water, onion juice, celery salt, bread cubes, egg, parsley, onion, cheese, salt, cayenne, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Clear Soup

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the soup

  1. Combine stock and water in a pot.

  2. Add onion juice and celery salt; stir well.

Make the croutons

  1. Dip bread cubes in beaten egg.

  2. Roll the bread cubes in parsley, onion, cheese, salt, and cayenne mixture.

  3. Heat butter in a pan.

  4. Sauté the bread cubes until golden brown.

  5. Drain the bread cubes on brown paper for a minute.

Serve

  1. Drop the bread cubes into the soup.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Stale bread
Cubes fry into crisp, golden croutons that hold their texture in the broth.
Beaten egg
Coats the bread cubes so the seasoning and crumbs stick to them.
Butter
Fat for frying, adding browning and a rich flavor to the croutons.
Grated cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor to the coated croutons as they brown.

The step that matters

Sauté the bread cubes until golden brown. Frying over moderate heat browns the egg and bread surfaces, creating crisp texture and toasted flavor; too little heat leaves them soggy, while too much burns the cheese and coating before the centers are done.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, bread, egg, parsley, cheese, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, bread, egg, parsley, cheese, 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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