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Plain Soup Stock

A large beef stock made by simmering bones, meat, and vegetables for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Plain Soup Stock

125 gallons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut off all the meat and crack the bones to expose the marrow.

  2. Place bones in a large pot and pile meat on top.

Simmer

  1. Add cold water and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  2. Simmer for seven hours.

  3. Add the vegetables, cloves, and thyme, and simmer for one hour longer.

  4. Add the bay leaves half an hour before the cooking time is up.

Finish and strain

  1. After the time is up, turn off the heat and remove the bones.

  2. Add boiling water to make 125 gallons of stock.

  3. Strain through a wet bag into cooling tanks.

  4. Once cooled and jelled, remove the grease from the top.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 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

Beef
Provides meaty flavor and, with the bones, gelatin that lets the stock set when cooled.
Bones (in the method)
Release marrow and collagen during long simmering, adding body and gelling power to the stock.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften and release their flavor into the liquid.
Carrots
Contribute gentle sweetness and color to the stock as they cook down.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and earthy background flavor to the broth.
Celery
Adds a fresh, savory aromatic note that rounds out the stock's flavor.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum after the water reaches a boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that cook into the liquid if left in, making the stock cloudy and giving it off flavors. Removing it early keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, carrot, turnip, celery, thyme):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, turnip, celery, thyme. 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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