Name: An Excellent White Soup
Ingredients: 1 piece of mutton scrag; 1 knuckle of veal, trimmed for collops; 2-3 cleaned mutton shank bones; ¼ pound very fine undressed lean gammon of bacon; 1 bunch of sweet herbs; 1 piece of fresh lemon peel; 2-3 onions, peeled; 3 blades of mace; 2 teaspoons white pepper

Why it works: Mace and white pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

An Excellent White Soup

Ingredients

1 piece of mutton scrag
1 knuckle of veal, trimmed for collops
2-3 cleaned mutton shank bones
¼ pound very fine undressed lean gammon of bacon
1 bunch of sweet herbs
1 piece of fresh lemon peel
2-3 onions, peeled
3 blades of mace
2 teaspoons white pepper

Directions

Prepare

In a large pot, combine the mutton scrag, knuckle of veal, mutton shank bones, and gammon of bacon.
Add the sweet herbs, lemon peel, onions, mace, and white pepper.

Simmer

Cover with water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender.

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.

Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,695 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Mutton + vealtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Lemon + white peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,658 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Onion + macetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,078 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton shank bones: Release gelatin and marrow flavour into the broth, giving it body and a rich savoury depth.
Gammon of bacon: Adds salty, smoky savouriness that seasons the broth as it simmers.
Knuckle of veal: Contributes collagen that softens during long simmering, enriching the broth's texture.
Onions: Add sweetness and aromatic background to the broth as they cook down.

The step that matters

Reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and toughens the meat, while a gentle simmer lets collagen break down slowly into gelatin and keeps the liquid clear.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, veal, lemon, onion, mace):

Parsleyfits better
Marjoramfits better
Thymefits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, veal, lemon, onion, mace. 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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An Excellent White Soup