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Bouillon Consommé

A clear broth made by simmering veal shanks, beef, poultry, and vegetables, then skimming and straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Bouillon Consommé

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a pot, combine veal shanks, beef, and old poultry.

  2. Cover with broth and bring to a simmer.

  3. When it starts to thicken, add more broth.

  4. Skim off the foam and refresh the broth several times.

  5. Add carrots, turnips, celery, and cloves-studded onions.

  6. Cook on low heat for 7 to 8 hours.

Strain and finish

  1. Once the meats are cooked, strain the broth through a fine sieve.

  2. Do not add salt, as the broth is already salted.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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

Veal shanks
Release gelatin and collagen that give the finished broth body and a silky mouthfeel.
Beef
Adds deep meaty flavour and additional gelatin to the broth as it simmers.
Old poultry
Contributes savoury flavour and gelatin from bones and connective tissue during long simmering.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma; studding with cloves adds a warm spiced note.

The step that matters

Skim off the foam and refresh the broth several times. Foam contains coagulated proteins and impurities that would cloud the broth and muddy its flavour. Removing it repeatedly keeps the consommé clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, carrot, turnip, celery, onion. 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 consommé recipes

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