Name: Consomme, or Clear Soup
Ingredients: 2 quarts of first stock; 1 egg white and shell; ½ lb. gravy beef; small piece of each kind of vegetable used in making the stock, except turnip

Why it works: Beef and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,940 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Consomme, or Clear Soup

Ingredients

2 quarts of first stock
1 egg white and shell
½ lb. gravy beef
small piece of each kind of vegetable used in making the stock, except turnip

Directions

Prepare the stock

Remove all fat from the stock.
If the stock is gelatinous, scrape off as much as possible with a spoon and wash the top with a cloth dipped in hot water.
Finely scrape the beef and soak it in 2 tablespoons of cold water to draw out the juices.

Clarify

In a stewpan, combine the stock, beef, egg white and shell, and the small pieces of vegetables.
Whisk over heat until the stock begins to simmer, then stop stirring and let it boil well.
Remove from heat and let it sit until a crust forms.

Strain

Tie a clean cloth to a soup strainer or the legs of an upside-down chair.
Pour boiling water through the cloth to clean.
Place a clean basin underneath and pour the stewpan contents onto the cloth.
The first strain will be cloudy; discard it.
Pour the soup slowly through a second time for clarity.

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.

Beef + turniptop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,940 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Egg + beeftop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + turniptop 36% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Stock: Forms the liquid base that gives the consommé its body and flavour.
Egg white and shell: Coagulates and gathers impurities into a raft that clarifies the broth.
Gravy beef: Adds meaty flavour and helps trap cloudy particles during clarification.

The step that matters

Whisk until simmering, then stop stirring. Stirring once the stock heats breaks up the egg white raft, so cloudy particles stay suspended. Letting it sit undisturbed lets the raft form and capture impurities, which is what makes the consommé clear.