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Restorative Broth

A broth made from beefsteak, carrots, spices, calf's feet, fowl, and sherry, set into a jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Restorative Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

  1. Mince the beefsteak and cover it in a saucepan.

  2. Place the saucepan on the fire for one hour.

  3. Fill the saucepan with boiling water to cover the contents.

  4. Simmer for one hour, then pour off the liquor without disturbing the contents.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the liquor through a napkin and remove any floating fat with blotting paper.

  2. Add a teaspoon of sherry and sugar to each cupful of broth.

  3. When cold, the broth will set into a firm jelly.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Carrot + sherrytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Mace + sherrytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Beefsteak
Releases savoury meat flavour and gelatin into the liquid during long simmering.
Calves' feet
Supplies gelatin, which sets the cooled broth into a firm jelly.
Fowl
Adds meaty body and flavour to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Pour off the liquor without disturbing the contents. Stirring or jostling the pot stirs sediment and fat back into the liquid, leaving a cloudy broth. Pouring gently keeps the clear liquor separate from the solids.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, nutmeg, sherry, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, nutmeg, sherry, sugar. 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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