Skip to main content
Main

Plain Broth

A clear broth made by simmering bones, water, and aromatics for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Plain Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the bones and soak them in plain water for 30 minutes.

  2. In a large pot, add the bones and enough water to cover them.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, skimming off any scum.

  2. Add the onion, carrot, parsley, salt, and celery.

  3. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours.

Strain and use

  1. Strain the broth before using it for soups or other dishes.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

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

Bones
Release gelatin, collagen and flavour into the water during long simmering.
Water
Extracts the flavour and body from the bones and vegetables over time.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
Carrot
Contributes natural sweetness and background flavour to the broth.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic vegetal note to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming off the scum after boiling. Foam that rises as the liquid heats contains impurities and coagulated proteins. Removing it early keeps the broth clearer and cleaner tasting.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, parsley, celery. 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 bone broth recipes

Soup 18Beef 15Beef Soup 3 See all 45 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipes