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Beef Broth,

A clear beef broth made by simmering a shin, trimmings, vegetables, and salt in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Broth,

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Beef Broth,

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the shin of beef thoroughly and crack the bone in two or three places.

  2. Add the beef and any trimmings to 2 gallons of cold water in an open pot.

Simmer

  1. Place the pot on a high heat and skim off any scum as it begins to simmer.

  2. Add 1 quart of cold water to help more scum rise and skim again.

  3. Once the scum has stopped rising, add the carrot, celery, turnips, onions (with cloves stuck in one), and salt.

  4. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to let it simmer gently for 4 to 5 hours.

Strain and cool

  1. Strain the broth through a fine sieve and skim off any grease.

  2. Cool the broth quickly in the coldest place available.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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

Shin of beef
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth during long, gentle simmering.
Trimmings of meat, game, or poultry
Add extra meaty flavor and body to the broth.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aroma as they cook down into the broth.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic, vegetal flavor that rounds out the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum as it rises. Scum is coagulated proteins and impurities. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting, so skim as it forms and again after adding the cold water.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, carrot, celery, turnip, onion):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, carrot, celery, turnip, onion. 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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