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Spring Vegetable Soup

A hearty soup made from beef shin, veal knuckle, and assorted vegetables simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Spring Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut the meat from the bones of the shin of beef and knuckle of veal.

  2. Remove all fat from the meat. Set the fat aside.

  3. Break the bones in half. Extract the marrow from the bones. Set the marrow aside.

  4. Place the meat and bones in a large stockpot or stewpan.

Make the broth

  1. Add 5 pints of cold water to the pot. Add 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the pot.

  2. Cover the pot.

  3. Bring the contents to a boil quickly.

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

  5. Reduce the heat.

  6. Let the soup simmer gently for 5 hours.

Add the vegetables

  1. Scrape the young carrots. Slice the young carrots.

  2. Peel the young turnip. Slice the young turnip.

  3. Wash the celery and leek. Chop the celery and leek into squares.

  4. Add the prepared vegetables and cauliflower to the pot.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Turnip + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together286 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Breaks down into tender meat and rich body as it simmers slowly in the broth.
Veal knuckle
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the broth body and a silky mouthfeel.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and color to the soup as they soften during cooking.
Celery
Adds savory aroma and a fresh, herbal flavor to the broth.
Leek
Contributes a mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.
Cauliflower
Adds mild sweetness and tender texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum after the boil. Impurities and proteins that rise to the surface can cloud the broth and give it an off flavor. Removing them early keeps the soup clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, carrot, turnip, celery, leek, cauliflower):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, turnip, celery, leek, cauliflower. 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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