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Soup

Wheat Broth

A simple broth made by simmering wheat in veal stock, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and pepper work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 984 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Wheat Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the wheat

  1. Soak 6 ounces of wheat in water overnight.

  2. Drain and parboil the wheat for 2 minutes, then drain again.

Simmer the broth

  1. In a saucepan, combine the wheat with 1 quart of veal broth.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

  3. Season lightly with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

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. Wheat + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together984 recipes

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

  2. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

  3. Wheat + vealtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  4. Wheat + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,071 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

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

Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Wheat
Forms the body of the broth, softening as it soaks and simmers to give a thick, hearty texture.
Veal broth
Supplies the main liquid and savory flavor that the wheat absorbs during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after boiling. Once the broth reaches a boil, reducing the heat to a gentle simmer lets the wheat cook evenly and tenderly. A hard boil can break up the grains and cloud the broth.

“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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