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Corn Soup

A hearty soup made with wheat, water, milk, butter, parsley, eschalots, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Corn Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the wheat

  1. Soak the wheat in water overnight.

Cook the soup

  1. Boil the wheat in the same water for 3 hours.

  2. Add the butter, finely chopped eschalots, salt, and pepper.

  3. Simmer gently for another 30 minutes.

  4. Stir in the milk and parsley, then bring the soup to a boil once more.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Wheat + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together345 recipes

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

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh wheat
Forms the body of the soup as its starch softens and thickens the liquid during long boiling.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the flavour of the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Eschalots
Contributes a mild onion-like aroma and savoury depth.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green aroma and a bright finish.

The step that matters

Stirring in the milk and bringing the soup back to a boil. Milk can curdle or scorch when it boils hard for a long time, and its proteins may separate. Adding it near the end and bringing the soup just to a boil once keeps it smooth and prevents a grainy texture.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Cardamomfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, milk, butter, 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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