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A White Soup

A clear soup made with veal, hen, ham, celery, onion, anchovy, and milk, finished with egg yolks, almonds, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and onion 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. In a large pot, combine the veal, hen, ham, mace, white pepper, celery, onion, and anchovy. Cover with sufficient water and simmer on low heat.

  2. Cook until the mixture reduces to about 2 quarts, then strain and let cool. Skim off the fat.

Finish the soup

  1. In a separate bowl, soak the crumb of the penny loaf in the milk until soft, then add it to the strained soup.

  2. In a mortar, combine the egg yolks and blanched almonds, adding a little Cayenne pepper. Mix well.

  3. Bring the soup to a boil, then strain again and stir in the cream.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Corn + celerytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together920 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. Corn + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,205 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Onion + anchovytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Gives the stock body and rich, savory depth as it simmers.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and add smoothness and body when blended with almonds.
Blanched almonds
Add fat and body, thickening the soup and giving it a smooth, creamy texture.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the finished soup a smooth, mellow texture.
Milk
Softened bread in milk adds moisture and body to the soup.

The step that matters

Bring the soup to a boil, then strain again. Boiling after the egg and almond mixture is added can curdle the yolks and make the soup grainy. Straining again removes any lumps and keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, mace, corn, celery, onion, anchovy):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, mace, corn, celery, onion, anchovy. 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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