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Soup

Consomme Blanc

A clear broth made from veal shank, lean beef, onion, celery, bay leaf, and salt, simmered for five hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Consomme Blanc

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces.

Make the broth

  1. Place the meat and bones in a soup pot, add the vegetables and water.

  2. Bring to a slow boil and skim off any foam.

  3. Let the broth simmer gently for five hours.

  4. Strain it twice through several layers of cheesecloth to clarify the broth.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal shank
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin and flavor into the broth as it simmers.
Lean beef
Adds meaty flavor to the broth and contributes protein that helps clarify it.
Cold water
Extracts flavor and gelatin from the meat and bones as it heats slowly.

The step that matters

Bring to a slow boil and skim off any foam. Boiling vigorously breaks up foam and fat into the liquid, making the broth cloudy. Gentle heat and skimming keep it clear.

Swap the celery

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, 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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