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Potage Creme d’Orge

A barley soup thickened with cream, butter, and nutmeg, served with fried bread croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potage Creme d’Orge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the barley

  1. Wash the barley in several waters.

  2. Put the barley in a stewpan with the broth and bring to a boil.

  3. Let it simmer slowly for 30 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Finish and serve

  1. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve and return to the stewpan.

  2. Bring to a boil again, then add the cream, sugar, and butter.

  3. Stir until thoroughly hot, but do not let it boil again.

  4. Serve with fried bread croutons.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Barley + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together136 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Pearl barley
Thickens the soup as its starch breaks down during simmering, giving body to the purée.
White broth (stock)
Provides the liquid base and savoury flavour in which the barley cooks.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and smooth finish.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Stir until thoroughly hot, but do not let it boil again. Once cream and butter are added, boiling can cause the dairy to separate or curdle, spoiling the smooth texture. Gentle heating keeps the soup silky.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, butter, cream, sugar, pepper, bread):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Celeryfits less well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, butter, cream, sugar, pepper, bread. 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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