Skip to main content
Soup

Tapioca Cream

A light soup made with tapioca, egg yolks, and stock, seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Tapioca Cream

Why it works: Cream and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Tapioca Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. Pour the white stock into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

  2. Gradually stir in the tapioca once the stock is boiling.

  3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer until the tapioca is clear.

Enrich and finish

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks with the cream or milk and stir gently.

  2. Strain the mixture into another bowl.

  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and place it on a trivet.

  4. Once the stock has cooled slightly, gradually add a few tablespoons to the egg mixture, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.

  5. Combine this mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining stock and stir well.

  6. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.

  7. Reheat the soup gently before serving, ensuring it does not boil.

  8. Serve in a hot soup tureen.

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. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tapioca
Thickens the stock as it cooks, giving the soup body and a clear, smooth texture.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and add thickness and richness when gently heated.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and softens the flavor of the egg yolk mixture.

The step that matters

Adding the egg mixture to the stock. If the stock is too hot when the egg yolks are added, they can scramble and curdle. Cooling the stock slightly and adding it gradually while stirring keeps the yolks smooth. Reheating must also stay below a boil to prevent curdling.

“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.

You might also like

Indian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and SpinachIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and Spinach448 recipesClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd SoupClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd Soup65 recipesMock Bisque SoupMock Bisque Soup51 recipesCream of Asparagus SoupCream of Asparagus Soup42 recipes