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Ouka, or Russian Soup

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Chervil and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ouka, or Russian Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the knuckle of veal, raw ham, and roasted hens in a stockpot.

  2. Fill the pot with common broth and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface and add the usual vegetables and parsley roots or parsnips.

  4. Boil for five hours, then strain the consomme and clarify it.

  5. Strain again through a napkin into a soup pot and set aside.

  6. Fillet the salmon, perch, eel, and mullets, cutting them into scollops.

  7. Arrange the fish in a deep sauté pan and season with parsley, chervil, tarragon, boiled parsley roots, minionette pepper, grated nutmeg, and salt.

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. Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Carrot + cherviltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together355 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, parsley, salmon, chervil, tarragon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, parsley, salmon, chervil, tarragon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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