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Clear Soup with Quenelles

A clear veal broth filled with veal quenelles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,890 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Clear Soup with Quenelles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the bouillon

  1. Make a bright, clear bouillon using the proper amount of vegetables.

  2. Add 1 pound of veal stock meat and ¼ pound of veal bones for additional strength.

Make the quenelle mixture

  1. Mince 5 ounces of lean uncooked veal until it forms a paste.

  2. Gradually mix in 3 ounces of panada until well combined.

  3. Add 3 ounces of veal udder or butter. Pound the mixture.

  4. Incorporate 2 egg yolks, ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, and ¼ teaspoon of spiced pepper.

  5. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes.

  6. Test the mixture by dropping a small piece into boiling water.

  7. Adjust consistency with milk or panada as needed.

Shape and poach

  1. Form olive-shaped quenelles using two teaspoons.

  2. Poach the quenelles in stock or water.

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. Veal + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

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

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Meat + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean veal
Provides the main protein structure that sets to form the quenelle.
Panada
Adds starch and moisture, giving the quenelles a light, tender texture.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set firmly when poached.
Veal udder or butter
Adds fat, which gives the quenelles richness and a softer, moister texture.

The step that matters

Testing the mixture before shaping. If the mixture is too stiff it becomes dense, and if too loose it will fall apart in the water. A small test poach shows whether milk or panada is needed to correct the consistency before all the quenelles are formed and cooked.

“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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