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Scrap Soup

A hearty soup made from meat scraps, vegetables, and rice, simmered slowly and seasoned to taste.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Scrap Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the cold water and scraps of meat in a large pot.

  2. Boil slowly for 2 to 3 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the chopped mixed vegetables 1 hour before serving.

  2. Season to taste.

  3. Strain the soup and serve.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  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

Scraps of chicken, turkey, veal, or beef
Release savory meat flavor and gelatin into the cooking water to form the broth.
Rice
Its starch thickens the soup slightly and adds body.
Onion
Adds aroma and a mild sweetness as it cooks into the broth.
Tomato
Adds acidity and brightness to balance the rich meat flavor.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, savory flavor to the broth.
Potato
Its starch adds body and softness to the soup.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 2 to 3 hours. A gentle simmer extracts flavor from the meat gradually and keeps the broth clear. A hard, rapid boil breaks up fats and proteins, making the soup cloudy and greasy.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, rice, onion, tomato, carrot, potato, celery):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, onion, tomato, carrot, potato, celery. 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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