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Ouka, or Russian Soup

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

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 broth

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

  2. Fill the pot with common broth and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface and add the usual vegetables and parsley roots or parsnips.

  4. Boil for five hours, then strain the consommé and clarify it.

  5. Strain again through a napkin into a soup pot and set aside.

Prepare and cook the fish

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

  2. Place the fish in a deep sauté pan and season 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. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth, giving it body and depth.
Raw ham
Adds salty, savory flavor to the broth.
Hens
Contribute rich meaty flavor and body to the consommé.
Salmon
Provides the main fish flesh, firm enough to hold its shape as scallops.
Perch
Adds delicate fish flavor and texture to the soup.
Mullets
Adds fish flavor and texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Strain and clarify the consommé. Boiling vigorously or skipping the second straining leaves the broth cloudy. Gentle simmering and careful straining through a fine cloth keep it clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, parsley, salmon, chervil, tarragon, pepper):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, parsley, salmon, chervil, tarragon, 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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