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Beef Stock

A hearty beef stock made by simmering beef, vegetables, and herbs for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Beef Stock

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Beef Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Bone the rump of beef and tie it neatly together.

  2. Break the bones and place both meat and bones into a large pot with 6 quarts of water.

Make the stock

  1. Heat gradually by the side of the fire, removing the scum before and after it boils.

  2. Add 2 ounces of coarse sea salt to the pot.

  3. Once the scum is removed, add the carrots, turnips, celery, leeks, onion, peppercorns, and savory herbs.

  4. Let it stew gently for 5 hours until the beef is done but not overdone.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the broth, remove the fat, and serve with toasted bread.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 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

Rump of beef
Provides the meat flavor and gelatin-rich body as it slowly simmers.
Beef bones
Release collagen and minerals during long simmering, giving the broth body and depth.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
Onion
Contributes savory sweetness and aroma as it cooks down.

The step that matters

Removing the scum. Scum is coagulated proteins and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Skimming before and after it boils keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or bitter.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, celery, leek, onion. 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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