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Chicken Soup

A hearty broth made from a whole hen, feet, heart, gizzard, liver, parsley root, onion, asparagus, and optional grains, finished with egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Chicken Soup

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hen

  1. Clean and singe the hen.

  2. Soak the hen in fresh water for 30 minutes.

  3. Scald the chicken feet, then scrape off the skin.

  4. Crack the feet in two.

Make the soup

  1. Boil the feet, heart, and gizzard for at least 3 hours.

  2. Add chopped parsley root, onion, and asparagus to the pot.

  3. Season with salt and optional rice or barley.

  4. Strain the soup.

  5. Skim off any fat from the soup before serving.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg yolks with cold water.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the soup just before serving.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Asparagus + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together261 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Parsley + asparagustop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together566 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the soup and add richness when gently stirred into the hot broth.
Chicken feet
Release collagen during long simmering, giving the broth body and a silky mouthfeel.
Parsley root
Adds a earthy, aromatic flavour to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Contributes savoury sweetness and aroma to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture into the soup just before serving. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot. Stir in a little hot broth first to temper them, then add them off the heat so the soup thickens smoothly instead of curdling.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, liver, onion, asparagus, rice, egg):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, liver, onion, asparagus, rice, 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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