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Brown Stock

A stock made by simmering meat, water, herbs, and vegetables to produce a brown broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Brown Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut meat in small pieces.

  2. Let stand in the cold water one hour, in the kettle ready for cooking.

Brown and simmer

  1. Take out a few pieces of the meat, put on spider with melted butter or fat from meat and let brown.

  2. Add to the above and let simmer four hours.

  3. Add seasonings and vegetables and let simmer another hour.

Finish

  1. When cold the grease rises to the surface; take off when ready for use.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

97Calories
3 gProtein
2 gFat
22 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatnot in our table0
Waternot 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 Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat
Provides the main flavour and body of the stock as it simmers in water.
Butter or fat from meat
Browning the meat before simmering adds roasted, deeper flavour to the stock.

The step that matters

Browning the meat pieces. Browning drives Maillard reactions that create roasted, savoury flavour compounds. Pale meat added to the pot gives a weaker, flatter stock colour and taste.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, thyme, parsley, pepper, corn):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Basilfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, thyme, parsley, pepper, corn. 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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