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Soup Stock

A clear beef stock made by simmering hind shin bones, herbs, and vegetables for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Soup Stock

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Wipe and cut the bones and meat into small pieces.

  2. Put the marrow, bones, and cold water into a kettle and soak for ½ hour before heating.

Simmer

  1. Add spices, herbs, and finely cut vegetables.

  2. Simmer for 6 to 7 hours, then strain.

Finish

  1. When needed, remove the fat, heat the stock to boiling, and season to taste.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Onion + turniptop 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

Hind shin of beef
Bones and meat release gelatin and flavor into the water during long simmering.
Cold water
Slow heating from cold water draws out flavor and body from the bones and meat.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock as it simmers.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness and aroma to the simmered stock.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy aroma to the simmered stock.

The step that matters

Remove the fat before reheating. Fat that rises from long simmering can make the stock greasy and cloudy when it is reheated and seasoned, so skimming it off first keeps the broth clearer and cleaner-tasting.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, onion, carrot, turnip, parsley. 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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