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Veal or White Stock

A clear veal stock made by simmering veal knuckle, celery, onion, bay leaf, and salt for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Veal or White Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wipe the veal and break the bones.

  2. Place the veal in a pot with cold water.

Simmer

  1. Heat slowly and simmer for 4 hours, skimming regularly.

  2. Add celery, onion, bay leaf, and salt, then simmer for 1 hour more.

Cool and finish

  1. Let cool; it should jelly when cold, and the fat can be easily removed.

  2. Melt the stock for use and strain through cheesecloth or clarify with egg if needed.

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. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

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

  3. Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Knuckle of veal
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, which lets the stock set into a jelly when cold.
Cold water
Slow extraction from a cold start draws flavour and gelatin out of the bones gradually.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic background flavour to the stock.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury depth as it simmers into the stock.
Bay leaf
Contributes a subtle herbal aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and skim regularly. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and impurities into the liquid, making the stock cloudy and greasy. Gentle simmering and skimming keep it clear, so it sets cleanly when cold.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, 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.

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