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Soup

Potage a LA Seine. [a Delicate White Soup]

A white soup made with veal, ham, herbs, carrots, onions, mace, and white peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potage a LA Seine. [a Delicate White Soup]

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Stew the veal, ham, herbs, carrots, onions, mace, and peppercorns in 4 quarts of water.

  2. Cook until the liquid reduces to about 5 pints.

  3. Strain the liquid and let it cool to remove the fat.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

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

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  5. Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal scrag or knuckle
Releases collagen and flavour into the water, giving the stock body and richness.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the stock.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aromatic flavour to the stock.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aroma as they soften in the liquid.

The step that matters

Cook until the liquid reduces to about 5 pints. Simmering concentrates flavour as water evaporates, but boiling too hard can cloud the stock. Gentle cooking keeps it clear and well flavoured.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, onion):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, onion. 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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