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Veal and Rice Broth

A broth made by simmering veal knuckle with rice, thyme, parsley, peppercorns, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Charles Elme Francatelli · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,739 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut up one pound and a-half of knuckle of veal.

Simmer and season

  1. Put it on to boil in a saucepan with a quart of water, four ounces of rice, a small sprig of thyme, and a little parsley.

  2. Season with a few peppercorns and a little salt.

  3. Boil very gently for two hours.

By Charles Elme Francatelli. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Rice + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,739 recipes

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

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Rice + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together907 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle (in the method)
Releases collagen and gelatin during long cooking, giving the broth body and a rich flavor.
Rice
Releases starch into the liquid, lightly thickening the broth and softening as it cooks.
Thyme
Adds a savory, herbal aroma that infuses the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Boil very gently for two hours. Vigorous boiling emulsifies fat and agitates proteins, making the broth cloudy and the meat tough. A gentle simmer keeps the broth clear and the veal tender.

Flavor stand-ins for the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, parsley):

  1. Celerybetter flavor fit
  2. Dillabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Marjoramabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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