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Flemish Soup

A veal broth soup with crumbled French rolls, Parmesan, cabbage, egg yolks, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Flemish Soup

Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Flemish Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the crumbled French rolls and veal broth in a pot.

  2. Heat the mixture until it is nearly boiling.

  3. Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese.

  4. Strain the mixture through a fine cloth.

Add the cabbage and seasoning

  1. Scald the shredded cabbage.

  2. Add the cabbage to the soup.

  3. If desired, boil a chicken in the soup.

  4. Season the soup with salt.

  5. Season the soup with a little Cayenne pepper.

Finish and serve

  1. Five minutes before serving, stir in the egg yolks.

  2. Stir in the cream.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Parmesan cheese + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Parmesan cheese + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

French rolls
Soak up the broth and thicken the soup body as they break down.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty depth and a richer flavor to the broth.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup when stirred in gently near the end.
Cream
Adds fat and a smooth, silky texture to the finished soup.
Cabbage
Adds bulk, mild sweetness and a tender vegetable texture.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolks five minutes before serving. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can curdle or scramble if the soup boils after they are added. Keep the soup hot but not boiling so it turns smooth and creamy.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, parmesan cheese, pepper, egg, cream):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, parmesan cheese, pepper, egg, 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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