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A hearty beef stock made with shin, ham, vegetables, spices, simmered for hours and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Stock

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the beef and 1 pint of water in a pot and let it sit by the fire for 1 hour.

  2. Add the ham, carrots, onions, celery, cloves, allspice, peppercorns, salt, mustard, brown sugar, black onion, and 6 quarts of water.

Simmer and strain

  1. Simmer for 6 hours, skimming frequently.

  2. Strain the stock through a fine sieve dipped in cold water into an uncovered earthen pan.

Chill and store

  1. When cold, remove the fat.

  2. Store the stock for later use.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Releases gelatin and flavour into the water during long simmering, giving the stock body.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth as it simmers.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aromatic flavour to the broth.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aroma as they cook down into the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming during the simmer. Proteins and fat rise to the surface as the stock simmers and can cloud or taint the liquid if left in. Skimming frequently keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, carrot, celery, clove, allspice, mustard):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, carrot, celery, clove, allspice, mustard. 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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