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Chicken Broth

A clear broth made by simmering chicken, peppercorns, allspice, and salt for hours, optionally with vermicelli, finished with egg yolk and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chicken Broth

Why it works: Allspice and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,083 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Chicken Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the cut fowl in a pot with cold water, peppercorns, allspice, and salt.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 4 hours until the chicken is in shreds.

  3. Strain the broth and add vermicelli if desired.

Finish and serve

  1. Before serving, whisk the egg yolk with lemon juice and stir into the broth.

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. Allspice + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

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

  3. Allspice + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl
Releases collagen and flavor into the water during long simmering, giving the broth body and savor.
Egg yolk
Emulsifies and thickens the broth slightly, adding richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the broth and balances its richness.

The step that matters

Simmering the fowl gently and covered. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and tough, while a low covered simmer lets collagen and flavor release slowly and keeps the liquid clear.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, lemon):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, lemon. 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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