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A Nourishing Broth

A hearty broth made from beef, veal, and mutton simmered with optional herbs, peppercorns, and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

A Nourishing Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Place the beef, veal, and mutton in a saucepan.

  2. Cover with water and add a little coarse sea salt.

  3. Bring to a boil to remove the scum, then skim off the scum.

  4. Pour off the water.

  5. Remove any remaining scum from the meat.

Simmer the broth

  1. Pour in warm water and bring to a boil.

  2. Simmer gently until the broth is reduced and the meat is tender.

  3. Add herbs, peppercorns, and onion during simmering.

Finish the broth

  1. Let the broth cool.

  2. Remove the fat from 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. Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

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

  4. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Mutton + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 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

Beef
Contributes rich, meaty flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Veal
Adds gelatin-rich body and a delicate savory flavor to the broth.
Mutton
Adds a deeper, distinctly savory flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities released as the meat heats. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and prevents off flavors from building up during the long simmer.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, mutton, meat):

  1. Onionthe original
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, mutton, meat. 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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