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Soup

Vermicelli Soup

A hearty soup made with veal or mutton bones, ham hock, onions, herbs, celery, butter, and vermicelli.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Vermicelli Soup

Why it works: Butter and bread match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,145 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Vermicelli Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the broken bones, ham hock, onions, sweet herbs, celery, and butter in a soup pot.

  2. Cook over low heat for one hour.

  3. Skim the surface, then add one gallon of boiling water.

  4. Keep boiling until the meat separates from the bones, then strain the broth.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the broth to the pot and add the scalded vermicelli.

  2. Season with salt and cayenne pepper, then boil for fifteen minutes.

  3. Place slices of bread in the bottom of a serving bowl and pour the soup over them.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,145 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Celery + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together16,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Ham + breadtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Onion + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together18,506 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Veal + hamtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,264 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

Knuckle of veal or neck of mutton
Breaks down into the rich body and savoury flavour of the broth.
Ham hock
Adds smoky, savoury depth and body to the broth.
Vermicelli
Thin pasta that softens in the broth and gives the soup its substance.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the broth.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, savoury flavour as it simmers in the broth.
Onions
Build sweetness and aroma as they cook into the broth.

The step that matters

Keep boiling until the meat separates from the bones. Long simmering is what extracts collagen and flavour from bones and connective tissue. Stopping early leaves a thin, weak broth.

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, onion, butter, pepper, bread):

  1. Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Garlicabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion, butter, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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