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Soup

Modern Cookery

A hearty soup made by simmering meat with water, salt, onions, celery, carrots, pepper, and mace.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, add ½ cup of cold water for each pound of meat.

  2. Bring to a boil and remove any scum that forms.

  3. Add 1 ounce of coarse sea salt, onions, celery, carrots, white pepper, and mace.

  4. Reduce heat and let the soup simmer gently for 5 to 6 hours until the meat falls from the bones.

  5. Strain the soup into a clean deep pan and store in a cool place until needed.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Gives the soup its main flavor and, as it breaks down, body and richness.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften into the broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savory flavor to the broth.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Removing the scum after boiling. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Skimming it early keeps the broth clear and prevents off flavors from spreading through the soup during the long simmer.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, celery, carrot, mace):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, celery, carrot, mace. 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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