Why it works: Pepper and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,379 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Duchess Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup base
Combine the white stock and brown stock in a pot.
Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
Stir in the rice flour and mix well.
Strain the mixture.
Finish and serve
Pour the strained mixture over the well-beaten egg yolks.
Do not allow the soup to boil after adding the egg yolks.
Before serving, add the whipped cream.
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.
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Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- White stock and brown stock
- Form the liquid base that carries the soup's flavour.
- Rice flour
- Thickens the stock so the soup has body.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and add richness and body when gently heated.
- Whipped cream
- Adds lightness and richness to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Do not let the soup boil after adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks are proteins that scramble and curdle when overheated, leaving the soup grainy. Keeping it below boiling lets the yolks thicken it smoothly.
“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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