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Mixed Stock for Soups, Etc

A savory broth made by simmering onions, ham, meat, bones, herbs, peppercorns, and cloves in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,901 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Mixed Stock for Soups, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

  1. Rub the bottom of a large stewpan with butter.

  2. Cover the bottom with sliced onions.

  3. Place the ham on top.

  4. Heat the pan over a good fire until browned.

Simmer the stock

  1. Pour in 1 pint of water gradually.

  2. Add 2 pounds of meat and bones with 1 quart of water.

  3. Skim the surface.

  4. Reduce to a simmer for 6 hours.

  5. Add the bouquet of sweet herbs, peppercorns, and cloves.

  6. Cook for an additional 2 hours.

Strain and store

  1. Strain the stock.

  2. Cool the stock.

  3. Carefully remove the fat the next day.

  4. Store in a cool place.

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. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Onion + meattop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

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

  4. Onion + hamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Sweeten and flavor the stock as they brown and soften in the pan.
Ham
Adds salty, savory depth to the stock as it browns and simmers.
Meat and bones
Release gelatin and savory flavor into the water during long simmering.

The step that matters

Carefully remove the fat the next day. Once chilled, fat solidifies on the surface of the stock, so it can be lifted off cleanly. Removing it before the stock is cold leaves greasy, cloudy liquid.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, ham, meat):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, ham, meat. 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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