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Soup

Mullagatawny Soup

A spiced soup of chicken and veal stock seasoned with curry powder, apples and lemon juice, with rice added.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Mullagatawny Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine chicken, veal, cloves, peppercorns, apples, lemon juice, salt, curry powder, sugar, and water in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil and simmer until the meat is tender.

  3. Strain the soup, reserving small pieces of meat.

  4. Reheat the soup, adding more seasoning if desired, along with the rice and reserved meat.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Clove + appletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Lemon + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,366 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Clove + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken or fowl
Provides the main meat and rich flavour for the broth as it simmers.
Knuckle of veal
Adds gelatin and body to the broth, giving it a fuller mouthfeel.
Sour apples
Add acidity and tartness that balances the spices and sugar.
Curry powder
Supplies the warm, aromatic spice blend that defines the soup's flavour.
Cooked rice
Adds bulk and a soft, starchy texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Simmer until the meat is tender. Gentle simmering lets collagen in the chicken and veal break down into gelatin, which gives the broth body. A hard boil can make the broth cloudy and the meat tough, so keep it at a low, steady simmer.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, veal, clove, lemon, sugar, rice):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, veal, clove, lemon, sugar, rice. 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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