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Spring Vegetable Soup

A hearty soup made with beef and veal bones, vegetables, and a pinch of baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Spring Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut the meat from the bones of the shin of beef and knuckle of veal using a sharp knife.

  2. Remove all fat from the meat and set it aside for other uses.

  3. Break the bones in half and extract the marrow, setting it aside as well.

  4. Place the meat and bones in a large stockpot or stewpan.

Simmer the broth

  1. Add 5 pints of cold water and 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the pot.

  2. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil quickly.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface with a spoon.

  4. Reduce the heat and let the soup simmer gently for 5 hours.

Add the vegetables

  1. Scrape and slice the young carrots.

  2. Peel and slice the young turnip.

  3. Wash the leek and celery, then cut them into squares.

  4. Wash the cauliflower and add it to the pot along with the peas.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Turnip + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together286 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Long simmering breaks down its connective tissue, giving the broth body and tender meat.
Knuckle of veal
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, adding body and richness to the broth.
Cauliflower
Holds its shape during simmering and adds mild bulk to the soup.
Peas
Add sweetness and soft texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Skim off the scum after boiling. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or greasy.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, carrot, turnip, leek, celery, cauliflower):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, turnip, leek, celery, cauliflower. 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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