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Soup

Clear Soup

A clear soup made from stock, onion, gelatin, celery essence, lemon juice, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Clear Soup

Why it works: Celery and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Remove the fat from the soup stock.

  2. Warm the stock with the onion over the fire.

  3. Simmer and skim until clear.

  4. Strain the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Soak the gelatine in a little water and add it to the soup.

  2. Add the essence of celery, lemon juice, and wine.

  3. Boil once, remove the film from the top, and pour out.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Celery + winetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Soup stock
Forms the main liquid and carries the flavour of the whole soup.
Sparkling gelatine
Adds body and a light, delicate setting quality to the clear broth.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma to the stock as it warms.
Good wine
Adds acidity and aroma that round out the broth.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the soup.
Essence of celery
Adds a concentrated celery aroma to the soup.

The step that matters

Simmer and skim until clear. A gentle simmer lets impurities rise to the surface so they can be skimmed off. Vigorous boiling breaks these particles up and clouds the broth, so clarity depends on keeping the heat low.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, lemon, wine):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, lemon, wine. 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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