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White Oyster Soup ; Or, Oyster Soup a LA Heine

A hearty oyster soup made with veal, ham, carrots, onions, mace, peppercorns, and thickened with bread and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

White Oyster Soup ; Or, Oyster Soup a LA Heine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Open the oysters carefully and reserve their liquor.

  2. In a large pot, combine veal, ham, water, carrots, onions, mace, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Simmer for 5 hours.

  4. Strain the stock and let it cool.

  5. Skim off any fat.

Thicken and finish

  1. In a small portion of boiling stock, steep the sliced stale bread for a few minutes, then drain it.

  2. Pound the bread with the chicken until well blended, then gradually mix in the stock.

  3. Pass the mixture through a sieve into a clean pot.

  4. Heat the mixture and stir in the boiling cream.

  5. If the soup is not thick enough, mix arrow-root with cold milk or stock and add it to the soup.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

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

  4. Oyster + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Long simmering draws flavor and body from the meat into the stock, giving the soup richness.
Stale bread
Soaked and pounded bread absorbs liquid and swells, adding body and a smooth texture.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, silky mouthfeel and softens the savory flavors.
Oysters
Provide the main briny, sea-like flavor that defines the soup.
Arrow-root
Starch that thickens the liquid when the soup needs more body.
Ham
Adds savory, salty depth to the stock.

The step that matters

Stirring in the boiling cream. Cream is rich in fat and can separate or turn grainy if the soup is boiled hard after it goes in. Keep the soup hot but gently heated once the cream is added so it stays smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, veal, ham, carrot, onion, bread, cream):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, veal, ham, carrot, onion, bread, cream. 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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