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Soup

Far Tridge and Pheasant Soup

A strained soup made from old partridge and pheasant, browned with ham, beef, celery and onions, then served hot with stewed celery and fried bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Far Tridge and Pheasant Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pan, fry the birds, ham, beef, celery, and onions in butter until browned, being careful not to burn them.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a stewpan and add boiling water, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Stew gently for 2 hours, then strain through a sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the strained liquid to the stewpan, add stewed celery and fried bread, and heat until near boiling.

  2. Skim the surface, pour into a tureen, 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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Birds
Provide the main meaty flavour that the broth is built on.
Gravy beef
Releases gelatin and savoury depth into the broth during long gentle stewing.
Ham
Adds salty, smoky richness to the stock.
Onions
Browning in butter adds sweetness and deeper colour to the broth.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, vegetal flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Frying until browned without burning. Browning the birds, meat and vegetables builds deep flavour through the Maillard reaction, but scorched butter and solids turn bitter and carry that bitterness into the whole soup.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, beef, onion, butter, bread):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, beef, onion, butter, bread. 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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