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Stock From Bones

A clear beef stock made by simmering bones, vegetables, and seasonings for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stock From Bones

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Place the broken beef bones in a large saucepan and cover with cold water.

  2. Add 2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

  4. Add the onion, carrot, turnip, celery, and peppercorns.

  5. Boil steadily for six hours or longer.

Strain and chill

  1. Strain the stock through a colander or sieve.

  2. Let it cool and refrigerate overnight.

  3. Remove the fat before using.

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. 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. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef bones
Release gelatin and collagen during long simmering, giving the stock body and a rich mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth as it cooks down into the liquid.
Carrot
Contributes natural sweetness and background flavour to the stock.
Celery
Adds a fresh, herbal aroma that rounds out the stock's flavour.

The step that matters

Skim off the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the bones heat. Removing it early keeps the stock clear and prevents a bitter, muddy flavour.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

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