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Economical Soup

A hearty soup made from roasted beef and turkey bones, beefsteak bits, water, optional celery, thickened with flour, served with dry toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Economical Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Roast the beef bones, turkey bones, and beefsteak bits.

  2. In a pot, combine the roasted bones and 2 quarts of water.

  3. Cook slowly for 2 hours.

  4. Remove the bones and strings, or strain the soup.

Finish the soup

  1. If using turkey bones, add chopped celery and vegetables to taste.

  2. Strain the soup again if celery is added.

  3. Thicken the soup with a mixture of flour and water, adding salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Serve with dry toast cut into fancy shapes.

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

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

  2. Beef + turkeytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together248 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Turkey + celerytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together431 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Roast beef bones
Provide the main meaty flavor of the stock once roasted and simmered.
Turkey bones
Add further body and savory flavor to the stock during slow simmering.
Beefsteak bits
Contribute extra beefy flavor and richness to the stock.
Flour
Thickens the soup, giving it a fuller, heavier body.

The step that matters

Thicken the soup with flour and water. Flour must be mixed smoothly with cold water before being stirred into hot soup; added dry or lumpy, it clumps and never fully dissolves, leaving a grainy texture.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, turkey, flour, pepper):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, turkey, flour, 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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