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Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

A creamy soup made from Jerusalem artichokes simmered in broth, finished with cream and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and cream work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 182 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Boil the broth gently for 2 hours, skimming off the fat as it rises.

  2. Wash and peel the Jerusalem artichokes, then add them to the broth.

  3. Boil the artichokes until tender enough to rub through a cloth.

Make the soup

  1. Strain the broth and return the artichokes to the stewpan with a little salt.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  3. Mix in the boiling cream and beaten egg yolks.

Serve

  1. Serve with or without toasted bread.

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. Jerusalem artichoke + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Jerusalem artichoke + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + breadtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Jerusalem artichokes
Provide the main body and thickening starch once boiled and rubbed through a cloth.
Broth
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavor of the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the soup.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup slightly when stirred into the hot mixture.

The step that matters

Mixing in the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the soup boils after they go in, they can curdle and turn grainy. Add them off the heat or with the soup just below a simmer.

Swap the jerusalem artichoke

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, bread):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Jerusalem artichokethe original
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, bread. 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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