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Palestine Soup

A hearty soup of Jerusalem artichokes, ham, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Palestine Soup

Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and celery share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 75 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Palestine Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

  1. Peel and wash the Jerusalem artichokes, onion, and celery.

  2. Place them in a stewpan with the ham, mace, sugar, and stock.

  3. Boil uncovered for 1 hour.

Thicken and finish

  1. Knead together the butter and baked flour.

  2. Stir the mixture into the soup and simmer for 20 minutes.

  3. Rub the soup through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon.

  4. Return the soup to the stewpan.

  5. Boil again, skimming if necessary.

  6. Stir in the thick cream.

  7. 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.

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.

  1. Jerusalem artichoke + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Jerusalem artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Jerusalem artichoke + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together140 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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 earthy flavour that the soup is built on.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.
Baked flour
Thickens the soup as it simmers, giving it body.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a silky texture when stirred in at the end.
Stock
Provides the liquid base and savoury depth for the soup.

The step that matters

Stir the flour and butter into the soup. Adding the kneaded butter and flour mixture to hot liquid without first breaking it up can leave lumps. Stirring steadily while it simmers lets the starch disperse and thicken the soup evenly.

Flavor stand-ins for the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jerusalem artichoke, onion, celery, ham, sugar, butter, flour):

  1. Capersbetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jerusalem artichoke, onion, celery, ham, sugar, butter, flour. 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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