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White Soup

A clear soup made from mutton, veal, sheep's feet, bacon, and aromatics, finished with an almond and cream mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Boil the mutton, veal, sheep's feet, bacon or ham, bouquet garni, lemon peel, onions, mace, and peppercorns in a large pot with 3 quarts of water.

  2. Cover and cook slowly until the meat falls apart.

  3. Let the mixture cool overnight, then remove the fat and transfer the jelly to another saucepan, leaving solids behind.

Make the soup

  1. Blanch the almonds and beat them into a paste with 1 teaspoon of water.

  2. Mix the almond paste with minced veal or chicken and stale bread.

  3. Add this mixture to 1 pint of cream, along with the fresh lemon rind and finely powdered mace.

  4. Gradually stir in 1 pint of the warmed jelly, strain through a colander, and boil for 15 minutes.

  5. Season with salt to taste.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

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

  4. Onion + almondtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Mutton + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Slow cooking breaks down its connective tissue, giving the stock body and rich meaty flavour.
Veal knuckle
Its gelatin sets the cooled stock into a jelly, adding body to the soup.
Sweet almonds
Ground into a paste, they add richness and a smooth, thickened texture.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the soup a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.
Stale bread
Its starch absorbs liquid and helps thicken the mixture into a smooth body.
Minced veal or chicken
Adds savoury meat flavour and body to the almond and cream mixture.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the warmed jelly. Adding the hot jelly slowly to the cream mixture helps it blend smoothly; adding it all at once can cause the cream to curdle or form lumps.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, veal, ham, lemon, onion, almond, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, veal, ham, lemon, onion, almond, 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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