Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Macaroni Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Fry the beef in a little dripping until half done, then remove it.
Fry the onions and bones in the same fat.
Combine all ingredients in a soup kettle with the herbs and cover with 4 quarts of cold water.
Bring the mixture to a slow boil.
Simmer for four hours.
Strain into a bowl to cool, allowing the fat to rise and be removed.
Cook the macaroni
Break the macaroni into short bits.
Cover the macaroni with boiling salted water.
Stew the macaroni slowly for 20 minutes or until tender.
Add the butter to the macaroni.
Let the macaroni stand covered for a few minutes.
Finish and serve
Season the soup with tomato juice or catsup.
Boil the soup.
Skim the soup.
Thicken the soup with 1 tablespoon of corn starch mixed with cold water.
When boiling, add the macaroni carefully to avoid breaking it.
Heat to scalding but do not boil.
Serve.
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.
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Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 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
- Beef
- Provides the main meaty flavor and savory body of the broth during long simmering.
- Bones
- Release gelatin during simmering, giving the broth a fuller, richer body.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften and brown in the fat.
- Macaroni
- Adds bulk and starch, giving the soup a heartier, more substantial texture.
- Corn starch (in the method)
- Swells when heated with liquid, thickening the soup to a smoother consistency.
- Tomato juice
- Adds acidity and color, brightening the flavor of the broth.
The step that matters
Adding the macaroni when the soup is boiling. Cooked pasta is fragile; stirred hard or boiled too vigorously it breaks apart and releases extra starch, which clouds the broth and makes its texture uneven. Lowering the macaroni in gently keeps the pieces whole and the soup clear.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, tomato, pork, butter):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Peanutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, tomato, pork, 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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