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Drink

Soup

A simple soup made with meat, water, salt, vegetables, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,777 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the soup pot is clean and free from grease.

  2. Chop or cut the meat into small pieces and add to the pot.

  3. Prepare vegetables by washing and picking them clean before adding to the soup.

Simmer

  1. Add 1 quart of water and 1 teaspoon of salt for each pound of meat.

  2. Simmer gently for 30 minutes before adding vegetables.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

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. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Provides the main flavor and body of the soup as it simmers in the water.
Vegetables
Add flavor and substance to the broth once the meat has simmered.

The step that matters

Skim off scum from the surface. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise while the liquid simmers. Removing it keeps the broth clearer and cleaner in taste.

“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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