Why it works: Mace and white pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
White Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the veal stock
Place the knuckle of veal in a pot and cover with water.
Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.
Boil until the meat separates from the bones.
Remove the bones and return them to the pot.
Boil for another 45 minutes, adding water as needed.
Strain the soup through a colander; you should have about 1½ quarts.
Cool the soup and refrigerate overnight.
Make the soup
The next day, bring the soup to a boil with 1 quart of milk and the butter.
Add ½ teaspoon of ground mace, pepper, and salt to taste.
Mix the flour with cold water until smooth and pour the mixture into the boiling soup.
Boil for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from heat.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix in a little of the hot soup.
Slowly pour this mixture back into the soup while stirring gently to avoid curdling.
Serve hot.
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.
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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Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,695 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + macetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,346 recipes
Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Veal knuckle
- Releases gelatin and flavour into the water, giving the stock body.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, making the soup rich and smooth.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel to the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells when heated.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the soup, adding body and a custard-like smoothness.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken at a gentle heat and can scramble if the soup is too hot or added too fast. Mixing in a little hot soup first and stirring gently keeps the yolks smooth.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, milk, egg, mace, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, milk, egg, mace, flour. 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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