Skip to main content
Main

Broth in an Hour

A quick beef broth made by simmering beef, onion, carrot, bacon, and water, then boiling and straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Broth in an Hour

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the beef, onion, carrot, bacon, and cold water in a stewpan.

  2. Simmer for 15 minutes until they begin to stick to the pan.

  3. Add the boiling water, salt, and pepper.

  4. Boil for 45 minutes.

  5. Strain and serve.

Optional additions

  1. Optionally, boil again with vermicelli.

  2. Season with catsup.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main flavor and savory body of the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the broth.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the broth.
Bacon
Contributes smoky, fatty richness to the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer for 15 minutes until they begin to stick to the pan. Starting with cold water and simmering gently lets the beef and vegetables release flavor slowly into the liquid. Adding the boiling water afterward then extends extraction, so the broth stays clear and well flavored.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, pepper. 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.

More beef broth recipes

Clear 36Soup 8Peptonized 4with Forcemeat Balls 3with Rice 3Carrots in 3 See all 501 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes