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Turkey Soup

A hearty soup made with turkey remains, stock, onion, bay leaf, mace, rice flour, and macaroni.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Turkey Soup

Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Turkey Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Divide the turkey remains and bones into small pieces.

  2. In a stewpan, combine turkey, onion, bay leaf, mace, and a little salt and pepper.

  3. Add the stock and simmer gently for 3 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture and return the liquid to the saucepan.

Finish and serve

  1. Blend the rice flour with a little cold stock or milk, then stir it into the soup.

  2. Boil gently for 7 to 8 minutes.

  3. Boil the macaroni separately, cut it into very short lengths, and add it to the soup.

  4. Season to taste, heat thoroughly, and serve.

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.

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.

  1. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Rice flour
Thickens the soup as it heats, giving it a lightly body-rich texture.
Cooked macaroni
Adds bulk and a soft, starchy texture to the soup.
Cold roast turkey
Provides the main meat flavor, and its bones add savory depth to the stock.

The step that matters

Stirring the rice flour into the soup. Rice flour clumps if added dry or to hot liquid. Blending it first with cold stock or milk lets the starch disperse evenly, so it thickens smoothly when the soup is heated.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, rice, flour, onion, pepper):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, rice, flour, onion, pepper. 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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