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Chicken Soup

A hearty soup made with chicken, tomatoes, carrots, Lima beans, flour, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Chicken Soup

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Pluck and singe the chicken, then draw it without breaking the intestines.

  2. Cut the chicken into small pieces, about 2 inches square.

  3. Place the chicken in a saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water and heat gradually to boiling.

Make the soup

  1. Add the tomatoes, carrots, and Lima beans when the water boils.

  2. Season the soup with salt and cayenne pepper, cover, and simmer gently for 3 hours.

  3. Mix 2 heaping tablespoons of flour with ½ cup of water and add to the soup.

  4. Stir in 1 pint of milk and adjust seasoning as needed.

  5. Continue boiling for another hour, ensuring the soup does not burn, then 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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Tomato + lima beanstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together131 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main meat and flavor as it simmers into the broth.
Flour
Thickens the soup as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
Milk
Adds richness and a creamy body to the finished soup.
Tomatoes
Contribute acidity and savory flavor to the broth.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body as they soften during long simmering.

The step that matters

Continue boiling for another hour without letting the soup burn. Once milk and flour are in, the liquid is prone to scorching on the bottom of the pan. Stirring and gentle heat keep the soup from catching, which would give it a burnt taste.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, tomato, carrot, pepper, flour, milk):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, tomato, carrot, pepper, flour, milk. 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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