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Vermicelli Soup

A lamb, veal, and ham broth with vermicelli, seasoned with salt, pepper, herbs, onion, and Worcestershire sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Vermicelli Soup

Why it works: Lamb and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,165 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Vermicelli Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a pot, combine the knuckle of lamb, veal, ham, and enough water to cover the meat.

  2. Cook until the meat is tender.

  3. Season the broth with salt, pepper, herbs, and add the small onion.

  4. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the vermicelli in a separate pot until tender, then strain.

  2. Add the cooked vermicelli to the soup and let it boil briefly before serving.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lamb + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,165 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + vealtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together568 recipes

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

  3. Lamb + hamtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together160 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Veal + hamtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together68,463 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Vermicelli
Thin pasta that softens in the hot broth and gives the soup its body.
Lamb knuckle
Bone and connective tissue release gelatin and flavor into the broth as it cooks.
Veal
Adds meaty richness and body to the broth as it simmers.
Ham
Contributes salty, savory depth to the broth.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and background flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Add the cooked vermicelli and boil briefly. Vermicelli keeps absorbing liquid and turns soft and starchy if left in the hot soup, so it should be added near serving and only boiled briefly.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, veal, ham, pepper, sauce):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, veal, ham, pepper, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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