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Macaroni Soup

A bone broth soup with turnip, carrots, leeks, onions, mace, peppercorns, herbs, and macaroni.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Macaroni Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Remove all usable meat from the bones.

  2. Break the bones into pieces and place them in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover them and 1 quart more.

  3. Bring the saucepan to a boil.

  4. Once boiling, add 1 tablespoon of salt to help the scum rise.

  5. Skim the soup, then add the vegetables, mace, and peppercorns.

  6. Reduce heat and let the soup simmer gently for 2.5 hours.

  7. Raise the lid slightly to let out steam.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Peel the turnip and cut it into quarters.

  2. Wash, scrape, and quarter the carrots; wash and finely shred the leeks.

  3. Peel the onions and insert 2 cloves into each.

Thicken and finish

  1. To thicken the soup, wash ¼ pound of macaroni in 2-3 waters.

  2. In a separate saucepan, add the macaroni with plenty of cold water and a sprinkle of salt.

  3. Boil the macaroni until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Bones
Release gelatin and flavour into the water, giving the broth body as they simmer.
Macaroni
Its starch thickens the soup as it cooks and softens in the broth.
Leeks
Add a mild onion sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and savoury depth to the broth as they simmer.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the soup after it boils. Removing the scum that rises as the broth heats keeps it clear and free of impurities, so the finished soup tastes clean rather than muddy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, carrot, leek, onion, clove, marjoram, thyme):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, carrot, leek, onion, clove, marjoram, thyme. 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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