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Transparent Soup

A clear beef and ham soup thickened with gelatin, served hot.

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

Transparent Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the beef

  1. Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat.

  2. Add the beef and ham, cover, and heat gently without scorching for 30 minutes.

  3. Increase heat and stir until the meat is browned.

  4. Add 1 pint of lukewarm water and reduce until half remains.

  5. Pour in 4½ quarts of cold water.

  6. Skim off foam.

  7. Simmer for 4 hours.

Make the vegetable liquid

  1. In a separate saucepan, cook the carrot, turnips, herbs, celery, and onions in 1 quart of water until reduced to 1 pint.

  2. Strain the liquid.

  3. Add the strained liquid to the soup.

  4. Set aside the vegetables without mashing them.

Clarify and finish

  1. Strain the soup.

  2. Let the rest cool.

  3. Remove the fat from the cooled soup.

  4. Strain the soup back into the pot.

  5. Season.

  6. Bring to a boil.

  7. Add the soaked gelatin. Stir until dissolved.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean coarse beef
Provides the main meaty flavor and body as it simmers into the broth.
Butter
Fat for starting the pot, carrying flavor as the meat browns.
Gelatine
Adds body and a silky mouthfeel to the finished clear soup.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma to the vegetable liquid.
Turnips
Contribute mild sweetness and aroma to the vegetable liquid.

The step that matters

Removing the fat from the cooled soup. Fat left in the soup makes it cloudy and greasy. Chilling lets the fat rise and solidify on top so it can be lifted off cleanly, keeping the broth clear.

Swap the turnip

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Turnipthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, butter, carrot, onion, celery, pepper. 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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