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To Make Bouillon Cubes

A dehydrated extract of beef or chicken stock, spices, vegetables, salt, sugar, and wheat extract formed into cubes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Make Bouillon Cubes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Re-boil the liquor from cooked beef or chicken with spices and fresh vegetables until all flavors are extracted.

  2. Boil spices in a bag for easier removal.

  3. Strain the liquor into another kettle, pressing the solids to extract more liquid.

  4. Re-boil the strained liquor, removing any scum that forms on the surface.

Reduce and shape

  1. Transfer the liquor to a vacuum pan and reduce it to a solid extract.

  2. In a porcelain-lined kettle, mix the solid extract with coarse sea salt, granulated sugar, and enough wheat extract to achieve a moldable consistency.

  3. Spread the mixture in shallow pans and cut into cubes once set.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Thyme + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together270 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Liquor from cooked beef or chicken
Provides the meaty base flavor and the body of the finished cube.
Wheat extract
Acts as a binder that gives the mixture a moldable consistency.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the salty and savory flavors.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the cube and helps preserve it.

The step that matters

Reducing the liquor to a solid extract. Concentrating the broth removes water, so the mixture sets firm enough to cut into cubes. Under-reducing leaves it too wet to hold shape, while over-reducing can scorch the sugars and make the flavor bitter.

“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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