Skip to main content
Main

Giblet Soup

A hearty soup made from fowl giblets, feet, necks, pinions, veal, ham, and herbs, thickened with flour and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Giblet Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the giblets and meat into half-inch pieces.

  2. Place the giblets and meat in a pot and cover with cold water.

  3. Boil until tender.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the liquid and let it cool to remove the fat.

  2. In the strained liquid, add flour, butter, and the bag of sweet herbs.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then boil for a few minutes 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together3,264 recipes

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

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Giblets
Provide the main meaty texture and rich, savory flavor of the soup.
Veal
Adds body and savory depth to the broth as it cooks down.
Flour
Thickens the strained liquid slightly, giving it a fuller body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Straining and cooling the liquid. Cooling the strained broth lets fat rise to the surface, where it can be removed. Skimming excess fat keeps the soup from tasting greasy and makes the later thickening with flour and butter work more cleanly.

“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.

More giblet soup recipes

Chicken 12Duck 7Clear 4Irish 3Lamb 3Turkey 3 See all 146 →

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes