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Palestine Soup

A soup made from Jerusalem artichokes simmered in stock or milk, finished with cream and served with fried croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Palestine Soup

Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and celery share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 75 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Palestine Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the artichokes, keeping them under water to prevent browning.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the artichokes, onion, celery, and butter.

  3. Stir over low heat to draw out their flavor without browning.

Make the soup

  1. Cover with stock and boil gently until tender.

  2. Pass the mixture through a wire sieve.

  3. Add the cream.

  4. Season to taste.

Serve

  1. Fry small croutons to a pale golden brown.

  2. Serve with the fried 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Jerusalem artichoke + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Jerusalem artichokes
Provide the main body and starchy, earthy flavor of the soup once cooked and sieved.
Butter
Carries the aromatics and adds richness when stirred gently with the vegetables.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Stock
Cooks the artichokes until tender and forms the liquid base of the soup.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat without browning. Gentle heat draws out the vegetables' flavor and sweetness without caramelising them, keeping the soup mild and pale rather than bitter or brown.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jerusalem artichoke, milk, cream, butter, celery, pepper):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jerusalem artichoke, milk, cream, butter, celery, 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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