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Chicken Broth

A clear soup made by simmering a whole chicken with vegetables and vermicelli.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Chicken Broth

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Chicken Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Boil the chicken in water until cooked, then set aside in a cool place.

  2. The next day, skim off the fat from the broth.

  3. Remove the bones from the chicken and add them to the soup pot with the broth.

  4. Add the onion, carrot, turnip, parsley, salt, and pepper.

  5. Bring to a boil and simmer for two hours.

  6. Remove the bones with a slotted spoon.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the vermicelli and boil for an additional hour.

  2. Serve the chicken broth hot.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole chicken
Releases flavour and gelatin into the water, giving the broth body and savoury depth.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth as it softens during long simmering.
Carrot
Contributes natural sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Vermicelli
Absorbs broth and softens as it cooks, adding starch and bulk to the soup.

The step that matters

Skim the fat after chilling. Fat solidifies on cold broth and rises to the top, so removing it before reheating keeps the soup clean-tasting and prevents a greasy mouthfeel.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, carrot, turnip, parsley, pepper):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, carrot, turnip, parsley, 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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