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Chicken Soup

A simple chicken soup made with chicken, onion, celery, tomato, and a beaten egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Chicken Soup

Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Cut the chicken into small pieces.

  2. Cook the chicken until tender.

  3. Remove the chicken.

  4. Set aside for salads or pressing.

Make the broth

  1. Season the broth with onion, celery, tomato, or any preferred seasonings.

  2. Add a well-beaten egg to the broth.

  3. Cook the broth slightly after adding the egg.

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. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Releases flavor and gelatin into the broth, giving it body and savoriness.
Egg
Its proteins set when heated, forming soft strands that thicken the broth slightly.
Tomato
Adds acidity and a mild sweetness that balances the savory broth.

The step that matters

Cook the broth slightly after adding the egg. Egg proteins set as they heat. Heating gently after the egg goes in gives soft strands; overcooking makes the egg tough and rubbery.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cuminfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, tomato, 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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