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Beef Jelly for Invalids

A gelatinous broth made from beef, calf's feet, ham, onions, carrots, cloves, pepper, sugar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Beef Jelly for Invalids

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Layer the onions, carrots, cloves, and black pepper in a pot.

  2. Place the ham on top, followed by the calf's feet, and then the beef.

Cook and strain

  1. Do not add water; let it cook on the side of the range until reduced to a soft mass.

  2. Add 1 quart of water and boil for 1 hour.

  3. Strain the mixture and let it cool, then remove the fat.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's feet
Release gelatin as they cook, which lets the broth set into a jelly.
Beef
Adds meaty flavor and body to the broth as it breaks down.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma to the broth.
Ham
Adds salty, smoky flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Reducing before adding water. Cooking the meat and bones without water over low heat draws out their juices and concentrates flavor and gelatin. Adding water too early would dilute the broth and weaken its setting power.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, clove, pepper, sugar, ham, beef):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, clove, pepper, sugar, ham, beef. 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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