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Giblet Soup

A soup made from boiled goose giblets, herbs, onions, and spices, thickened with butter and flour, finished with wine and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,225 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Giblet Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the giblets

  1. Blanch the giblets.

  2. Add the blanched giblets to a pot with the herbs, onions, shallots, beaten spices, salt, and pepper.

  3. Pour in 2 quarts of water.

  4. Cook until the giblets are three-quarters done.

  5. Remove the giblets from the pot.

  6. Chop the bones down.

Make the soup

  1. Return the giblets to the pot with boiled eggs and forcemeat balls.

  2. Strain the liquid.

  3. Let it settle.

  4. Melt 3 ounces of butter in a separate pan.

  5. Mix the melted butter with flour over medium heat for 5 minutes.

  6. Add ½ pint of Madeira or sherry wine, the strained giblet liquid, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt to the butter mixture.

  7. Pour in 2 quarts of beef broth.

  8. Bring to a boil.

  9. Add the giblets back to the pot.

  10. Let them stew gently until tender, skimming off any fat.

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

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Giblets
Provide the main meat and rich flavour that the soup is built around.
Onions
Break down during cooking to add sweetness and body to the broth.
Butter
Fat that is melted and mixed with flour to form the thickening base.
Flour
Combines with melted butter to form a roux that thickens the soup.
Madeira or sherry wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the finished soup.
Beef broth
Supplies the main liquid and savory backbone of the soup.

The step that matters

Mixing the butter and flour. Cooking the roux over medium heat for the full time cooks out raw flour taste and lets it thicken evenly. Stirring keeps it from scorching or forming lumps when the liquids are added.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, shallot, pepper, butter):

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Chivebetter flavor fit
  3. Leekbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, shallot, pepper, butter. 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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