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A Very Nourishing Veal Broth

A nourishing broth made from veal knuckle, old fowl, mutton shank-bones, mace, peppercorns, onion, bread, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Mutton and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,488 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

A Very Nourishing Veal Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the knuckle of veal, old fowl, shank-bones, mace, peppercorns, onion, and bread in a large pot.

  2. Add 2 quarts of water and bring to a boil.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for several hours, skimming off any fat that rises to the surface.

  4. Strain the broth and serve warm.

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. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Veal + muttontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,394 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  3. Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

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

  4. Mace + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  5. Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,056 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth as it simmers.
Old fowl
Adds body and rich poultry flavor to the stock.
Shank-bones of mutton
Contribute marrow, collagen and depth of flavor during long simmering.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming off the fat as it rises. Fat that is left in the pot emulsifies into the liquid and makes the broth greasy and cloudy. Skimming during the simmer keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, mutton, onion, bread):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Pepperfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, mutton, onion, bread. 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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