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Crecy Soup

A hearty beef and split pea soup with tomatoes, flour thickener, and Worcestershire sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,448 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Crecy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the knuckle of veal, slice of beef, and 7 quarts of water in a large pot.

  2. Boil for the entire day until reduced to 3 quarts.

  3. Strain the broth the next day.

  4. Return the broth to the pot with the bones and vegetables.

  5. Boil for 6 hours.

  6. Strain again the following day.

  7. Skim off all the fat from the broth.

Finish the soup

  1. Add 1 cup of split peas and boil until dissolved.

  2. Stir in 1 can of tomatoes and boil for an additional hour.

  3. Mix in 3 tablespoons of flour and strain through a fine sieve.

  4. Flavor the soup with Worcestershire sauce to taste.

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. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

  2. Peas + tomatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  3. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Beef + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,044 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Beef
Simmered meat adds savory depth and meaty flavor to the broth.
Split peas
They break down while boiling, thickening the soup and adding body.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a tangy sweetness that balances the rich broth.
Flour
Starch thickens the liquid once stirred in and heated.

The step that matters

Mixing in the flour. Flour added to hot liquid can clump unless it is dispersed evenly first. Starch needs to be fully incorporated to thicken smoothly, and straining through a fine sieve catches any lumps that remain.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, tomato, flour, sauce):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, tomato, flour, sauce. 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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