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Ouka, or Russian Soup

A hearty Russian soup made with veal, ham, hens, fish, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Chervil and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ouka, or Russian Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a stockpot, place the knuckle of veal, raw ham, and roasted hens.

  2. Fill the pot with common broth and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface and add the usual vegetables and parsley roots or parsnips.

  4. Boil for five hours, then strain the consomme and clarify it.

  5. Strain again through a napkin into a soup pot and set aside.

Prepare and cook the fish

  1. Fillet the salmon, perch, eel, and mullets, cutting them into neat pieces.

  2. In a deep sauté pan, arrange the fish and season with parsley, chervil, tarragon, boiled parsley roots, minionette pepper, grated nutmeg, and salt.

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. Chervil + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Carrot + cherviltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together355 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Gives the consomme body and rich, savoury flavour during the long simmer.
Hens
Release gelatin and flavour into the broth, adding body to the consomme.
Raw ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth.
Salmon
Provides the main fish body and rich flavour in the soup.
Perch
Adds firm, mild fish pieces that give the soup texture and variety.
Mullets
Contribute delicate fish flavour and flaked texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Clarifying the consomme. Straining through a napkin and clarifying the broth removes cloudy particles. If the broth is boiled hard or not strained carefully, it stays cloudy and loses its clean, clear appearance.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, parsley, salmon, chervil, tarragon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, parsley, salmon, chervil, tarragon. 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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