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Econojiical Turkey Soup

A hearty soup made with beef, turkey remains, and rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Econojiical Turkey Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Cut the beef into small pieces and pour in the cold water.

  2. Heat slowly and skim when it begins to boil.

  3. Add salt, onion, celery, turkey remains, and any leftover gravy.

  4. Let it boil gently for about three hours.

  5. Strain the soup through a coarse sieve or colander.

  6. Let it cool until the fat can be removed.

Finish the soup

  1. Thicken the soup with boiled dry rice and stew for about ten minutes.

  2. Season with minced parsley, salt, and pepper or cayenne to taste.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef neck or joint
Gives the broth its rich, meaty flavour as it simmers.
Turkey remains
Adds cooked meat and roasted flavour to the broth.
Leftover gravy
Adds savoury depth and body to the soup.
Cooked rice
Thickens the soup as it stews.

The step that matters

Skimming while heating. Skimming foam as the water first boils removes impurities and excess fat, keeping the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or greasy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, turkey, rice, parsley, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, turkey, rice, parsley, pepper. 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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