Skip to main content
Main

Bouillon

A clear beef broth made by simmering beef, water, egg white, and shell, then straining and skimming fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Bouillon

Why it works: Beef and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Combine chopped beef and cold water in a pot.

  2. Let the mixture sit for 1 hour.

  3. Cover the pot.

  4. Simmer on low heat for 6 hours until reduced to 1 quart.

Strain and clarify

  1. Strain the liquid through a coarse cloth.

  2. Squeeze the cloth to extract all juice.

  3. Remove fat from the cooled liquid.

  4. Return the liquid to heat.

  5. Stir in the egg white and shell.

  6. Boil for 30 seconds.

  7. Skim the surface.

  8. Strain again.

Serve

  1. Serve hot in cups.

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. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main flavor and the body of the broth as it simmers.
Egg white and shell
Collects fine particles as it cooks, helping the broth become clear.

The step that matters

Boiling the egg white and shell. Boiling for only 30 seconds is brief. The egg white must be stirred in and then coagulate to trap particles, so the broth clears; boiling too long can cloud it again.

“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.

More beef broth recipes

Clear 36Soup 8Peptonized 4with Forcemeat Balls 3with Rice 3Carrots in 3 See all 501 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef CroquettesBeef Croquettes58 recipes