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Ouka, or Russian Soup

A hearty Russian soup made with veal, ham, hens, fish, and vegetables.

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

Make the consommé

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

  2. Fill the stockpot with common broth.

  3. Bring the broth to a boil.

  4. Skim the surface of the broth.

  5. Add the usual vegetables and parsley roots or parsnips.

  6. Boil for five hours.

  7. Strain the consommé and clarify it.

  8. Strain the clarified consommé again through a napkin into a soup pot.

  9. Set the strained consommé aside.

Prepare and season the fish

  1. Fillet the salmon, perch, eel, and mullets, cutting them into scallops.

  2. Arrange the fish scallops in a deep sauté pan.

  3. Season the fish with parsley, chervil, tarragon, boiled parsley roots, minionette pepper, 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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main body of the fish, giving the soup its substance and flavour.
Old hens
Release gelatin and flavour into the broth, giving the consommé body and richness.
Knuckle of veal
Adds gelatin and depth to the broth, helping it set body and richness.
Raw ham
Contributes savoury, salty depth to the stock as it simmers.

The step that matters

Clarifying the consommé. If the broth is not skimmed and strained carefully, cloudy particles and fat stay suspended, leaving the consommé murky instead of clear and smooth.

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.

“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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