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Menu for A' Party of Eight

A fish soup made with bones, anchovies, lime, Madeira, and seasonings, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Menu for A' Party of Eight

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cover the bones with water.

  2. Simmer for 1 hour, skimming off fat and scum.

  3. Remove the bones.

  4. Flatten the meat with a weight.

  5. Set aside to cool.

  6. Add the shin and bones back to the soup kettle with enough cold water to cover them completely and 1 ounce of coarse sea salt.

  7. Skim carefully.

  8. Maintain a low boil by adding water periodically.

  9. Reduce heat.

  10. Add the onions, celery, carrots, lime rind, parsley, basil, thyme, marjoram, peppercorns, anchovies, mushroom ketchup, sugar, and caramel.

  11. Simmer for 3 hours.

  12. Skim occasionally without allowing it to boil.

Finish the soup

  1. Strain the soup carefully.

  2. Cool it in a bowl to remove grease.

  3. Cut the cooled meat into 1.5-inch squares.

  4. Add to the strained soup in a large saucepan.

  5. Cook the pieces slowly for 30 minutes.

  6. Drain.

  7. Strain the soup again.

  8. Clarify the soup by adding 1 glass of Madeira.

  9. Add the juice of 1 lime.

  10. Heat the soup when ready to serve.

  11. Pour it into a tureen over selected pieces of meat.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bones
Release gelatin and flavor into the water, giving the soup body.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savory, umami depth to the broth.
Madeira
Adds aromatic, slightly sweet depth to the finished soup.
Anchovies
Contribute savory depth that rounds out the broth without tasting fishy.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and body to the simmered broth.

The step that matters

Skim carefully and keep the soup at a gentle simmer. Boiling emulsifies fat and scum into the broth, making it cloudy and greasy; gentle simmering and skimming keep it clear.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, carrot, lime, parsley, basil, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, carrot, lime, parsley, basil, thyme, marjoram. 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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