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Stock, or Pot Au Feu

A beef stock or pot au feu made with bones, vegetables, and oyster soup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stock, or Pot Au Feu

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine beef bones and meat with cold clear water at a ratio of 2½ pints per pound of bones and meat.

  2. Add onions (fried or sautéed with a clove), parsley, carrots, and optionally turnips, parsley, and celery.

  3. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then reduce heat so it simmers slowly for 4–5 hours, avoiding a hard boil in the first half hour.

  4. Skim off scum frequently to keep the broth clear.

  5. Season with a small amount of salt, adding more only at the end.

  6. Add a few drops of lemon juice if desired.

  7. Add wine or ketchup only at the last moment.

  8. Strain the soup through a fine sieve, discarding solids.

  9. About fifteen minutes before serving, add any additional vegetables you like.

Make the oyster broth

  1. Wash three pints of good oysters through two rinses.

  2. Place the oysters in a stewpan with one pint of water, one small onion (not cut small), six blades of mace, and two stalks of celery cut finely.

  3. Bring to a boil, then strain out the oysters.

Finish and serve

  1. Prepare one quart of roasted oysters, quarter pound of fresh butter, and two tablespoons of flour rubbed together very smooth.

  2. Add three pints of rich cream and half‑and‑half milk to the strained oyster broth.

  3. Bring the mixture to a good boil, season with a little cayenne pepper and salt.

  4. Place the roasted oysters in the tureen, pour the hot soup over them, and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

763Calories
25 gProtein
21 gFat
118 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 13 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. See the original page.

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. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

  2. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef bones
Release gelatin and savoury flavour into the water during long simmering, forming the base broth.
Oysters
Provide the main briny flavour of the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the soup as it heats, giving it body.

The step that matters

Simmer the broth gently at the start. A hard boil early on churns fat and fine particles into the liquid, making the broth cloudy. Gentle simmering and skimming scum keep it clear.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, celery, butter, cream, onion, flour, lemon):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, celery, butter, cream, onion, flour, lemon. 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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