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Stewed Soup

A hearty soup made with calf's foot, calf's head skin, mushrooms, ham, herbs, and optional sherry or Madeira.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Stewed Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Prepare a well-flavored, deeply-colored stock using a calf's foot and the skin of a calf's head.

Prepare the mushrooms

  1. Clean, dry and slice the mushroom buttons.

Simmer and finish

  1. Simmer the ham and herbs together for about 30 minutes.

  2. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pot and cook until they are tender.

  3. If desired, stir in sherry or Madeira and 2-3 tablespoons of Harvey's sauce to enhance flavor and color.

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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Ham + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Mushroom + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,486 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Mushroom + saucetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,480 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,314 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's foot
Releases gelatin and body into the stock, giving the soup a rich, slightly thick texture.
Calf's head skin
Adds gelatin and collagen to the stock, contributing body and a deeper color.
Mushroom buttons
Add earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture to the soup.
Ham
Adds savory, salty depth to the broth as it simmers with the herbs.

The step that matters

Cook until the mushrooms are tender. Mushrooms hold a lot of water and can turn rubbery or stay bland if undercooked; simmering them in the hot broth softens their texture and lets their flavor move into the soup.

“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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