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Partridge Soup

A hearty soup made from partridges, ham, celery, onions, carrots, turnips, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley 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 ↓

Partridge Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the partridges

  1. Truss the partridges like chickens.

  2. Line a 5‑quart stewpan with slices of ham.

  3. Add trimmings of the partridges and ½ pint of stock.

  4. Place the partridges in the pan with celery, onions, thyme, parsley, and mace.

  5. Cover the pan with white paper and the stewpan lid.

  6. Simmer slowly until the stock reduces.

  7. Add 2 quarts of best stock.

  8. Boil slowly until the partridges are done.

Prepare the soup

  1. Remove the partridges.

  2. Cut off the wings.

  3. Shred the meat from the breast and thighs into a small soup pot.

  4. Cut carrots and turnips into desired shapes.

  5. Boil the carrots and turnips in best stock until tender.

  6. Peel onions without cutting the roots.

  7. Add the peeled onions to the boiling carrots and turnips.

  8. Strain the cooking liquid from the partridges into a large bowl.

  9. Skim off the fat from the strained liquid.

  10. Combine the strained liquid with the partridge meat and roots.

  11. Boil for a few minutes.

  12. Skim off the scum as it rises.

  13. Serve in a tureen.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Provide the meat and flavour that make up the body of the soup.
Stock
Forms the liquid base and carries the flavour of the meat and vegetables.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body as they soften in the broth.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and texture as they cook until tender.
Onions
Contribute savoury depth and sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Skim off the fat and scum. Fat and scum rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing them keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy soup.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, celery, onion, thyme, parsley, carrot, turnip):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, celery, onion, thyme, parsley, carrot, turnip. 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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