Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
White Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stock
Boil the veal, poultry trimmings, and ham in a large pot with enough water to cover.
Clarify and strain
Beat the egg whites with a little water.
Add some hot stock to the beaten egg whites.
Beat the mixture to a froth and pour it gradually into the pot.
Beat the entire mixture hard and allow it to boil once.
Immediately remove from heat and strain through a thin flannel cloth.
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.
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Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal knuckle
- Its connective tissue breaks down into gelatin, giving the stock body and a silky mouthfeel.
- Egg whites
- As they coagulate, they trap cloudy particles so they can be strained out, clearing the stock.
- Poultry trimmings
- Add savory flavour and extra gelatin from bones and connective tissue to the stock.
- Lean ham
- Adds a savoury, meaty flavour to the stock.
The step that matters
Boiling once after adding the egg white mixture. As the egg whites heat, they coagulate and trap cloudy particles in a raft. Boiling only once, then straining immediately, keeps the raft intact. Prolonged boiling breaks it up and clouds the stock.
“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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