Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 13,144 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Vermicelli Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
In a pan, combine the stock, onion, bay leaf, cloves, and ham. Boil for 30 minutes.
Remove the onion and seasonings, then clarify the stock with the white of an egg.
Strain the stock through a clean cloth and return it to the pan.
Cook and serve
In a separate pan, boil the vermicelli in water until tender.
Add the cooked vermicelli to the stock and season with pepper and salt.
Pour the soup into a tureen and serve with grated cheese on the side.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Clove + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,144 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Onion + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,463 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + hamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,158 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Clove + hamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,456 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
-
Onion + clovetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,407 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries all the flavour of the soup.
- Vermicelli
- Adds body and a tender, starchy bite to the soup.
- Egg white (in the method)
- Gathers fine particles as it sets, clarifying the stock to a clear broth.
- Ham
- Adds savoury, salty meaty flavour to the stock as it simmers.
The step that matters
Clarifying the stock with egg white. The egg white must be whisked into the cold or warm stock and then brought gently to a simmer. Boiling too hard breaks up the coagulating proteins, leaving the broth cloudy instead of clear.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, ham, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Mustardbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against clove, ham, pepper. 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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