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Clear Soup

A clear beef soup with potatoes, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, and optional pearl barley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Clear Soup

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Put the beef in cold water and bring to a slow simmer.

  2. Simmer for 4 to 5 hours, skimming frequently for the first hour.

Add the vegetables and serve

  1. Add the potatoes, onions, cabbage, and tomatoes; boil for 2 more hours.

  2. If using pearl barley, add it 30 minutes before serving.

  3. Strain the soup through a colander and 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.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + barleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + barleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together458 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shank or joint
Releases flavour and gelatin into the water during long simmering, giving the broth body.
Potatoes
Soften during cooking and add starch that gives the soup a little body.
Onions
Break down during simmering, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.
Cabbage
Softens in the broth and adds mild sweetness and vegetable flavour.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and fruity flavour that brightens the long-cooked broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the first hour. Foam and fat rising early in the simmer can make the broth cloudy and greasy. Removing them while the broth is still forming keeps it clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, tomato, barley):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, tomato, barley. 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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