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Vermicelli Soup

A hearty soup made with veal, ham, vegetables, and vermicelli.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Vermicelli Soup

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Vermicelli Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the veal and ham into small pieces and slice the vegetables.

  2. Melt the butter in a soup pot.

  3. Add the meat and vegetables.

  4. Cover and heat slowly for one hour, stirring occasionally.

  5. Pour in the cold water and cook gently for four hours.

Strain and season

  1. Drain the liquid.

  2. Pick out the meat and bones.

  3. Store in a stock jar.

  4. Pour the remaining soup into a container.

  5. Season the soup.

  6. Set aside.

  7. Pulp the vegetables into the soup.

  8. Season the soup again.

  9. Cool the soup.

  10. Remove the fat from the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Bring the soup to a boil.

  2. Skim the soup for five minutes.

  3. Add the vermicelli.

  4. Simmer for one minute before serving.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Knuckle of veal
Long gentle simmering draws collagen and flavour from the bone into the broth.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth as it cooks.
Butter
Fat that softens the vegetables and carries flavour before the water is added.
Vermicelli
Thin pasta that softens in the hot broth and adds body to the soup.

The step that matters

Skim the soup for five minutes. Fat and fine impurities rise to the surface as the soup heats. Skimming them off keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy mouthfeel.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, celery, butter):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Turnipfits about as well
  3. Parsnipfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, celery, 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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