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Chicken Broth

A clear soup made by simmering chicken parts with water, then adding egg and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Chicken Broth

Why it works: Parsley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine the fowl parts in a pot and cover with cold water.

  2. Bring to a boil slowly, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours until meat and bones fall apart.

  3. Strain the stock into a bowl.

Finish the broth

  1. Beat the egg in a cup and add enough stock to fill the cup.

  2. Pour the egg mixture slowly into the rest of the stock while stirring rapidly.

  3. Add salt, parsley, and nutmeg to the stock.

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. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Parsley + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Egg
Binds fine particles as it cooks, helping clarify the broth and giving it body.
Fowl parts
Release gelatin and flavour into the water during long simmering, giving the broth body and taste.

The step that matters

Pouring the egg mixture into the stock. Adding the egg while stirring rapidly distributes it evenly so it can coagulate around impurities. Pouring slowly prevents the egg from cooking into clumps, which would not clarify the broth.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (nutmeg, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Cardamomfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against nutmeg, egg. 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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