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A Plainer White Soup

A simple veal broth thickened with milk, cream, and ground rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

A Plainer White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the broth

  1. Place the knuckle of veal in a pot with water and bring to a boil.

  2. Simmer until the meat is tender, about 1.5 to 2 hours.

  3. Remove the veal and strain the broth.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the milk and cream to the broth.

  2. Stir in ground rice to thicken the soup.

  3. Season to taste and serve hot.

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. Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  3. Veal + ricetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,119 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Cream + ricetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Veal + milktop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Releases flavour and gelatin into the water, giving the broth body as it simmers.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the broth's savoury taste.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Ground rice
Absorbs liquid and swells when stirred into hot broth, thickening the soup.

The step that matters

Stirring in the ground rice. Ground rice thickens by absorbing liquid and swelling as it heats. If it is added without stirring, or the soup is not kept hot enough, it can clump or stay thin. Stir steadily while it is added.

“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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