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A hearty broth made by simmering beef or veal, poultry, bacon, and vegetables in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Stock

Why it works: Turnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat and bacon or ham into 3-inch pieces.

  2. Break the bones into small pieces.

Make the stock

  1. Rub the butter on the bottom of a large stewpan.

  2. Add ½ pint of water and the broken bones to the pan.

  3. Then add the meat and all other ingredients.

  4. Cover the stewpan and place it on a sharp fire, stirring occasionally.

  5. When the bottom of the pan is covered with a pale, jelly-like substance, add the 4 quarts of cold water.

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. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Clove + turniptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Shin of beef
Connective tissue breaks down into gelatin, giving the stock body and a rich mouthfeel.
Bones
Release gelatin and flavour compounds that give the stock body and depth.
Bacon or ham
Adds savory, salty meaty flavour to the stock.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they cook down into the liquid.
Celery
Contributes savory, herbal aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Adding the cold water at the right moment. Wait until the pale, jelly-like layer forms on the pan bottom before adding the 4 quarts of cold water. This layer shows the meat and bones have begun releasing gelatin and juices, so the water is added to a well-started base rather than diluting it too early.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, ham, butter, onion, turnip, carrot):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, ham, butter, onion, turnip, carrot. 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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