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Queen Soup

A chicken soup with almonds, egg yolks, bread, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Queen Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, cook the chopped onions and celery in butter over medium heat until softened.

  2. Add parsley, thyme, bay leaf, chicken, and water.

  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4 hours.

  4. Remove the chicken.

Prepare the thickening and garnish

  1. Cut the meat from the wings and breast into small dice.

  2. Reserve the dark meat for another use.

  3. In a bowl, pound the chopped almonds, egg yolks, and soaked bread together until smooth.

  4. Press the mixture through a sieve into the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Add boiling cream or milk.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Serve 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.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  3. Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Pounded into a paste, they add body and a nutty flavor to the soup.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and help it thicken and feel smooth and creamy.
Bread soaked in milk
Breaks down into the paste, adding body and a soft, velvety texture.
Cream or rich milk
Adds richness and fat, giving the soup a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
Chicken
Simmered for hours to give the broth its main meaty flavor.
Butter
Softens the onions and celery gently, building a sweet base flavor.

The step that matters

Pressing the almond and yolk mixture through a sieve. Pressing removes lumps and fibrous bits so the thickening blends evenly. If the paste is not pounded smooth first, it will leave grainy specks and an uneven texture in the soup.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, butter, parsley, thyme, chicken, egg):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, butter, parsley, thyme, chicken, 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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