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 ↓
Meat Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Crack the bones and extract the marrow, adding it to the soup.
Combine the beef, bones, and water in a pot and heat gradually.
Let it boil slowly for at least 6 hours, checking occasionally to prevent water from evaporating too quickly.
If needed, replenish with boiling water.
After 7 hours, remove the soup and cool it overnight.
Finish the soup
About 1 hour before serving, remove the meat and set aside.
Skim the fat from the surface of the stock and return it to the heat.
Add salt to bring up the scum and skim it off carefully.
Prepare the vegetables by slicing them small and stewing in just enough water to cover until they break apart.
Cook the cabbage separately in two waters, discarding the first.
Cook one whole carrot until done, then set aside to cool.
Add the remaining vegetables and their cooking water to the soup.
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.
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lean beef
- Gives the stock its meaty flavour and body as it simmers for hours.
- Beef bones
- Release marrow and gelatin, adding richness and body to the stock.
- Celery
- Adds aromatic flavour to the stock and vegetables.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and a fresh, savoury tang to the soup.
The step that matters
Keeping the stock at a slow boil. A hard, rapid boil makes the stock cloudy and emulsifies fat into it, while letting the water evaporate concentrates it unevenly. A gentle simmer with occasional topping up keeps the broth clear and the flavour balanced.
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, corn, celery, tomato):
- Parsnipfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Okrafits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, corn, celery, tomato. 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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