Name: White Soup
Ingredients: 1 knuckle of veal; Salt and pepper to taste; Pinch of powdered mace; ½ cup of vermicelli; 1 oz. of butter; 1 cup of cream; 4 egg yolks

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

Place the veal in a soup kettle and cover it with cold water.
Bring to a boil and skim thoroughly.
Simmer, covered, for 2 hours.

Season and finish the soup

Strain the broth and add seasonings and vermicelli.
Boil slowly for about 15 minutes until the vermicelli is tender.
Remove from heat and add the butter.

Add the cream and serve

In a tureen, beat the egg yolks with the cream.
Slowly pour the hot soup over the egg mixture, stirring quickly.
Serve immediately.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,761 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Mace + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,009 recipes

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Veal knuckle: Releases gelatin and flavour into the broth during long, gentle simmering.
Egg yolks: Thicken the soup into a smooth, creamy texture when gently heated.
Cream: Adds richness and body, and softens the texture of the finished soup.
Butter: Adds fat and a rounded, smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Vermicelli: Adds starch and body to the broth as it cooks until tender.

The step that matters

Slowly pour the hot soup over the egg mixture, stirring quickly. Egg yolks thicken at around 160°F and scramble if they meet hot liquid too fast. Adding the soup slowly while stirring tempers the yolks so the soup becomes creamy rather than curdled.