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A Scotch Soup

A hearty soup of cabbage, bones, oatmeal, and milk, seasoned with pepper and coarse sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

A Scotch Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Wash the cabbages in salt and water.

  2. Cut them into pieces about ½ inch long.

  3. Place them in a clean saucepan with 3 pints of water and the fresh bones.

  4. Bring to a boil.

Simmer the soup

  1. Skim the surface and simmer for 3 to 4 hours.

  2. Remove the bones.

Make the oatmeal and finish

  1. Mix 1 cup of oatmeal with enough milk to make a smooth paste.

  2. Add enough milk to the mixture to make 1 quart.

  3. Stir the oatmeal mixture into the soup.

  4. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring constantly.

  5. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then serve.

  6. If the soup is too thick, add more water.

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

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

  2. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + milktop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together599 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbages or savoys
Provide the main vegetable body and mild flavour as they simmer for hours.
Oatmeal
Thickens the soup as its starch swells and gelatinises during boiling.
Fresh bones
Release flavour and body into the water during the long simmer.
Milk
Adds richness and softness, and helps the oatmeal form a smooth paste.

The step that matters

Stirring the oatmeal into the soup. Oatmeal starch can clump and scorch on the bottom of the pan if it is not stirred well. Mixing it smooth first and stirring constantly while boiling keeps the soup even and thickened.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper. 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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