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A White Soup

A clear soup made from veal, ham, anchovies, onions, celery, herbs, almonds, cream, and egg yolk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

A White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine water, veal, ham, anchovies, peppercorns, onions, sweet herbs, and celery in a large pot.

  2. Stew the mixture until the soup is flavorful.

  3. Strain the soup through a fine sieve into an earthen pot.

  4. Let the strained soup sit overnight.

Finish the soup

  1. Skim off the fat from the soup.

  2. Pour the skimmed soup into a stewpan.

  3. Add the pounded almonds to the stewpan.

  4. Bring the soup to a gentle boil.

  5. Strain the soup again through a fine sieve.

  6. Stir in the cream and egg yolk just before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Celery + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

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

  4. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  5. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Pounded almonds thicken the soup and give it a creamy body and nutty flavour.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the soup a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the cream when gently combined, adding body to the soup.
Veal
A knuckle releases gelatin and savoury flavour into the stock as it stews.
Ham
Contributes salty, smoky meaty flavour to the stock.

The step that matters

Stirring in the cream and egg yolk. Egg yolk can curdle or scramble if the soup is too hot. Adding it just before serving, off a strong boil, keeps the soup smooth and thick.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, onion, celery, cream, egg):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Walnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion, celery, cream, egg. 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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