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Macaroni Soup, a LA Rossini

A soup of partridge consommé served with macaroni and partridge quenelles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Macaroni Soup, a LA Rossini

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the game

  1. Make a quenelle with the flesh of 2 partridges, mixing it with a little grated Parmesan.

  2. Roast 2 other partridges.

  3. Make a purée of the game.

  4. Reduce the consommé to half, adding the carcasses of the birds and a little pepper.

Cook the macaroni

  1. Blanch the macaroni in boiling water.

  2. Strain the macaroni.

  3. Simmer the macaroni for 25 minutes in half of the reduced consommé with a little pepper and 4 ounces of butter.

  4. Strain the macaroni before mixing.

Poach and drain the quenelles

  1. Poach the quenelles in consommé.

  2. Drain the quenelles.

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. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Parmesan cheese + white peppertop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together193 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl butyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Provide the lean meat for the quenelles and purée, and the carcasses that flavour the consommé.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury depth and helps bind the quenelle mixture.
Small naples macaroni
Forms the body of the soup, absorbing the consommé as it simmers.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the macaroni.

The step that matters

Simmer the macaroni for 25 minutes. Simmering in the consommé lets the pasta absorb flavour and soften evenly; too little or too much time leaves it under- or overcooked, and the butter emulsifies into the liquid to enrich the soup.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parmesan cheese, butter):

  1. Pepperfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, butter. 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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