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U Broths

A hearty broth made with meat, vegetables, herbs, and vermicelli, simmered for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

U Broths

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into pieces the length of a finger and the breadth of two.

  2. Combine the meat with 4 cups of water and a little coarse sea salt in a pot.

Simmer and finish

  1. Set the pot on a gentle fire and skim the surface during the first boiling.

  2. After simmering for 2 hours, add chopped carrots, turnips, onions, celery, cabbage, sweet herbs, pepper, and vermicelli.

  3. Let it stew for an additional 2.5 hours, skim again, and remove the herbs and bones.

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 + chestnuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together46 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 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

Meat
Gives the broth its savory flavor and body as it simmers.
Vermicelli
Adds starch that softens in the broth and thickens it slightly.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aroma to the broth as they cook.
Onions
Add aromatic depth and subtle sweetness to the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface during the first boiling. Proteins and fat rise as foam and scum when the liquid first heats. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy result.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, carrot, turnip, celery, cabbage, pepper, chestnut):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, carrot, turnip, celery, cabbage, pepper, chestnut. 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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