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Chicken Soup

A hearty soup made with a whole hen, celery root, parsley, celery leaves, rice, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

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

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Dress, wash, and cut up the chicken.

  2. Place the chicken in a soup kettle and cover with cold water.

  3. Bring to a boil, skimming off any foam that rises.

Simmer the soup

  1. Cover and cook slowly for 4 hours.

  2. After 2 hours, add the celery root, parsley, celery leaves, and rice.

  3. Once done, remove the chicken and skim off the fat.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Add the nutmeg to the soup tureen, pour in the soup, stir, and serve hot.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Hen
Provides the main flavor and body of the broth as it simmers slowly in water.
Celery root
Adds a mild celery flavor and some body to the soup during the long simmer.
Rice
Adds a little body and thickening to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after boiling. Foam rising at the start of cooking contains coagulated proteins and impurities. Removing it keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or scummy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, celery, parsley, rice, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, celery, parsley, rice, 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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