Skip to main content
Main

Vegetable Stock for Soups

A clear stock made by simmering vegetables, beans, and seasonings in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Vegetable Stock for Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours, skimming off any foam that forms on the surface.

  3. Strain the stock to remove solids and let it stand.

Finish

  1. Pour off the clear liquid, leaving sediment behind.

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. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Haricot beans
Break down during simmering to add body and thicken the stock.
Split peas
Break down during simmering to add body and thicken the stock.
Onion
Releases sugars and aromatic compounds that give the stock savory depth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and body to the stock as it simmers.
Celery
Contributes aromatic flavor compounds that build the stock's savory base.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam. Foam carries impurities and proteins that can cloud the stock and taste bitter if left on the surface. Removing it during simmering keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, pepper, clove, beans, turnip, carrot, celery):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, pepper, clove, beans, turnip, carrot, celery. 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.

You might also like

Green PeasGreen Peas229 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesTurnip SoupTurnip Soup43 recipes