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Soup

Spring Soup

A hearty soup made with fish, whitebait, chicken, sirloin, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, served with Noyau cream and iced pudding.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 217 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Spring Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Start the soup base

  1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.

  2. Add the fish and cook until done.

Cook the main components

  1. In a separate pot, cook the whitebait until tender.

  2. Prepare the chicken patties and cook them thoroughly.

  3. Roast the sirloin to your desired doneness.

  4. Boil the potatoes until soft.

  5. Steam the Brussels sprouts and asparagus until tender.

Serve

  1. Serve with Noyau cream and iced pudding for dessert.

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. Potato + asparagustop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together217 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

  3. Turbot + creamtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together127 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Chicken + asparagustop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Fish + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together190 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish (turbot)
Provides the main protein, which firms and flakes as it cooks through.
Whitebait
Small fish that turn tender with brief cooking, adding delicate flavour and body.
Chicken
Protein that sets firm as it cooks, giving the patties their structure.
Sirloin
Beef that browns on the outside when roasted, developing savoury flavour.
Potatoes
Starch that softens when boiled, giving the dish body and a soft texture.
Asparagus
Vegetable that softens and turns tender when steamed, keeping a fresh green flavour.

The step that matters

Cook the chicken patties thoroughly. Poultry must be cooked through to be safe to eat, because undercooked chicken can carry harmful bacteria. The centre should reach a safe internal temperature before serving.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, turbot, chicken, potato, asparagus, cream):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, turbot, chicken, potato, asparagus, 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.

More spring soup recipes

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