Why it works: Chicken and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,243 recipes. Both carry 3-butanedione, which smells buttery, creamy. The science ↓
A Richer White Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Finely pound the almonds.
Add the roasted chicken or partridge breasts and the soaked bread, then beat to a smooth paste.
Gradually pour in the boiling veal stock while stirring.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Finish and serve
Return the strained soup to the heat and add the thick cream.
Serve as soon as it reaches boiling point.
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.
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Chicken + vealtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,243 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).
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Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Bread + vealtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,056 recipes
Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).
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Almond + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together858 recipes
Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almonds
- Pounded into a paste, they give the soup its body and nutty flavour.
- Roasted chicken or partridge breasts
- Add cooked meat flavour and body to the almond paste.
- White bread
- Soaked in broth, it thickens the soup and adds a smooth, soft texture.
- Veal stock
- Forms the liquid base and carries the savoury flavour of the soup.
- Thick cream
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Serve as soon as it reaches boiling point. Once cream is added, prolonged boiling can cause it to separate and turn the soup grainy, so heat only until it just reaches boiling.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, chicken, bread, veal, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, chicken, bread, veal, cream. 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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