Skip to main content
Main

Another White Soup

A clear soup made with veal shank, rice, and egg yolks, seasoned with salt and white pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Veal and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,119 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Another White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.

  2. Add 4 pounds of veal shank, breaking the bone well.

  3. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

  4. Strain the liquid.

Add the rice and finish

  1. Cook 1 cup of whole rice until very tender.

  2. Pulp the rice through a colander.

  3. Add the rice to the pot.

  4. Season with salt and white pepper.

  5. Let it simmer for nearly an hour.

  6. Just before serving, stir in 6 well-beaten egg yolks.

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. Veal + ricetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,119 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Veal + white peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,350 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Rice + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal shank
Releases collagen and flavor into the water, giving the soup body and a rich meaty taste.
Whole rice
Breaks down when cooked and pulped, thickening the soup and giving it a smooth, creamy body.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup when stirred in, adding richness and a silky texture.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolks. Yolks added to very hot liquid can scramble and turn grainy. Beat them well and add them just before serving, off the heat or at a low simmer, so they thicken smoothly.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, rice, egg. 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.

You might also like

Rice FrittersRice Fritters84 recipesVeal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesSteamed RiceSteamed Rice48 recipesRice Griddle CakesRice Griddle Cakes28 recipes