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Clear Soup

A clear beef broth made by simmering beef, water, and aromatics for hours, then skimming fat and seasoning.

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

Why it works: Thyme and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 214 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Cut the beef into small pieces and add to the cold water.

  2. Bring to a boil gradually, skim carefully, and maintain at boiling point for 8-10 hours.

  3. Strain the soup and let it cool overnight.

Finish and season

  1. In the morning, skim off the fat and pour the soup into a kettle, leaving sediment behind.

  2. Add the onion, celery, parsley, thyme, summer savory, sage, bay leaves, peppercorns, and cloves.

  3. Boil gently for 20 minutes, then strain through a napkin, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

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. Thyme + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together214 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Summer savory + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together237 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Clear beef
Provides the meat flavour and gelatin that give the broth body as it simmers.
Cold water
Extracts flavour and protein from the beef slowly when it starts cold and heats gradually.
Onion
Adds savoury, aromatic sweetness to the broth during the final short simmer.
Celery
Contributes a fresh, vegetal aroma that lightly flavours the finished soup.

The step that matters

Skimming and gentle heating. Bringing the water to a boil gradually and skimming carefully removes coagulated proteins and fat that would cloud the broth. Maintaining a steady, gentle boil rather than a hard rolling boil keeps the soup clear.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, parsley, thyme, summer savory, sage, clove):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, parsley, thyme, summer savory, sage, clove. 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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