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Semolina Soup a LA Palermo

A game consommé soup thickened with homemade semolina vermicelli and finished with Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Semolina Soup a LA Palermo

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pasta

  1. Mix the wheaten and Turkish wheat flour on a clean surface, creating a hollow in the center.

  2. Add the egg yolks, cream, pepper, salt, and nutmeg into the hollow and knead into a firm paste.

  3. Roll out the paste thinly with a rolling pin and cut into 1‑inch bands, then shred into vermicelli‑like pieces.

  4. Spread the shreds on a baking sheet lined with paper and let them dry for 4 hours.

Serve the soup

  1. Just before serving, add the dried shreds to the boiling game consommé and skim the surface.

  2. Allow the soup to gently boil by the stove until ready to serve, then add a pinch of minionette pepper.

  3. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on the side.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Wheat + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together359 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Wheaten flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dried shreds structure and a firm bite.
Turkish wheat flour
Adds more flour to build a firm, workable dough for the shreds.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, and help bind the dough into a firm, smooth paste.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the dough softer and more tender.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savory flavor to the finished soup at the table.

The step that matters

Drying the shreds. The shreds must dry fully so they hold their shape in the hot consommé and do not turn soft or gummy. Drying removes surface moisture, letting the dough set firm.

“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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