Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Chicken Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Chop the chickens into pieces and mash the bones.
Add the ham if desired and stew slowly until the meat is tender.
Pour in 3 quarts of boiling water and boil down to 2 quarts.
Make the cream mixture
Chop the chicken hearts and the yolks of the hard boiled eggs.
Stir the chopped hearts, egg yolks, and bread crumbs into the cream.
Finish the soup
Strain the soup and return it to the kettle with the bouquet of herbs.
Boil for 5 minutes, then stir in the cream mixture and remove from heat.
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.
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chickens
- Provide the main body of meat and bones that give the soup its flavor and richness.
- Rich sweet cream
- Adds fat and body, giving the soup a smooth, rounded texture.
- Hard boiled egg yolks
- Their fat and fine texture help thicken and enrich the cream mixture.
- Grated bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help bind the cream mixture, adding body to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the cream mixture. Cream and egg yolks can curdle or turn grainy if boiled hard. Removing the pot from heat right after stirring in the cream mixture helps keep the soup smooth.
“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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