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Artichoke Cream Soup

A creamy soup made from artichokes, broth, cream, butter, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Artichoke Cream Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the artichokes

  1. Peel and quarter the artichokes.

  2. In a saucepan, melt the butter.

  3. Toss the artichokes lightly over medium heat until tender but not browned.

  4. Cover the artichokes with broth and add the parsley, salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook slowly until tender.

  5. Remove the parsley.

Make the soup

  1. Add the cream sauce, mashing through a fine colander.

  2. Adjust the thickness with additional broth.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve.

  4. Return to the saucepan, season to taste, and keep warm without boiling.

Finish and serve

  1. Before serving, stir in the butter until melted.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and cream, then strain.

  3. Slowly add the egg mixture to the soup while stirring.

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

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

  2. Artichoke + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together524 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Artichokes
Provide the main flavor and body of the soup as they soften and break down.
Cream sauce
Gives the soup a smooth, rich base once mashed and strained.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel when stirred in at the end.
Egg yolks
Thicken the soup gently and add richness when added without boiling.
Cream
Adds richness and a velvety texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk mixture. Egg yolks thicken by setting when heated. If the soup boils or the mixture is added too fast, the yolks can curdle and turn grainy. Add slowly while stirring and keep the soup below a boil.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (artichoke, butter, chicken, pepper, sugar, cream, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against artichoke, butter, chicken, pepper, sugar, cream, sauce. 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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