Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Veal Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Place the knuckle of veal in a large pot with cold water and salt.
Add the cooked rice and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 4 hours.
Remove from heat when the liquid is reduced by half.
Finish and serve
In a tureen, combine the egg yolk and cream, stirring well.
Add the butter to the mixture.
Strain the hot soup into the tureen while stirring continuously.
Beat the soup well for one minute before serving.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Veal + ricetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,119 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,381 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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 soup body and savour.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the soup and thickens it slightly as it sets into a smooth, velvety texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished soup.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a silkier, richer texture and a rounder flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the hot soup to the egg yolk and cream. Pouring the hot soup in while stirring constantly gradually warms the yolk so it blends smoothly. If the yolk is added to very hot liquid without stirring, it can scramble into fine lumps.
“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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