Why it works: Carrot and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Consommé Doré
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Place the chicken, soup bone, and ham in a pot with cold water and boil slowly for 5 hours, covered.
Fry the onion in a little butter or drippings, then add it along with all the vegetables and seasonings to the pot.
Boil for an additional 2 hours.
Strain the mixture into an earthen bowl and let it sit overnight.
Clarify and serve
The next day, remove the fat from the top and take out the jelly, leaving the thickest part of the sediment.
Mix in the shells and whites of the eggs and boil quickly for 10 minutes.
Let the kettle sit for 10 minutes to settle.
Pour the soup through a jelly bag without squeezing it until it is perfectly clear and a golden brown color.
If the soup is not clear, pass it through again.
Use the cleanest kettle and scald your sieve each time to prevent particles from washing back into the soup.
Serve for dinner parties or luncheons, garnishing to taste.
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.
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Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,097 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + parsniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together484 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
- Eggs
- Whites and shells bind to cloudy particles, which settle out so the broth becomes clear.
- Soup bone
- Long simmering draws gelatin and flavor from the bone into the broth.
- Chicken
- Slow simmering releases flavor and body into the broth.
- Onion
- Frying first deepens the color and adds sweet, savory aroma to the broth.
The step that matters
Boiling the egg whites and shells. Boiling too hard or stirring after adding the eggs can break up the clarifying raft, leaving the consommé cloudy. Simmering gently lets the proteins trap particles so they rise and settle.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, onion, parsley, carrot, parsnip, celery):
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, onion, parsley, carrot, parsnip, celery. 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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