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Brown Soup Stock

A brown beef stock made by simmering beef shin, bones, vegetables, and aromatics for six hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Brown Soup Stock

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Brown Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Wipe the meat with a clean, damp cloth; do not wash it.

  2. Cut the meat into small pieces and break up the bones.

  3. Fry one-third of the meat with the marrow from the bones.

Make the stock

  1. In a soup kettle, combine the remaining meat and bones with the cold water.

  2. Let it stand for 30 minutes, then add the fried meat.

  3. Cook slowly, simmering (do not boil), for 6 hours, covering tightly.

  4. One and a half hours before finishing, add the chopped vegetables.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the soup and cool quickly.

  2. The next day, remove the fat before using the stock.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef from the shin
Gives the stock its meaty flavor and, from the bones, body and gelatin.
Beef bones
Release gelatin during long simmering, giving the stock body and mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth as it cooks into the stock.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Celery
Contributes savory, aromatic background flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Simmer, do not boil. A gentle simmer keeps the stock clear and limits fat and particles being emulsified into the liquid. A rolling boil makes the stock cloudy and greasy.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, parsley, thyme, marjoram, carrot, turnip):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, parsley, thyme, marjoram, carrot, turnip. 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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