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Stock, Rich and Strong

A hearty stock made from beef, veal, bones, vegetables, and herbs, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,668 recipes. Both carry gamma-decalactone, which smells peach, creamy. The science ↓

Stock, Rich and Strong

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

  1. Butter a saucepan and line it with slices of ham or bacon.

  2. Add the beef, veal, bones, and any meat or poultry trimmings.

Make the stock

  1. Pour in 1 pint of water, cover, and boil quickly, stirring frequently until reduced to a glaze.

  2. Pour in 2 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil.

  3. Add the onion, celery, carrot, turnip, mace, herbs, peppercorns, and salt.

  4. Remove the scum as it rises, adding a spoonful of cold water occasionally to help.

  5. Simmer gently for 4 hours.

Strain and skim

  1. Strain into an earthenware pan and let cool completely.

  2. Carefully remove the fat from the top.

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. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Beef + rabbittop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Breaks down into gelatin and body, giving the stock richness and a silky mouthfeel.
Knuckle of veal
Releases collagen as it simmers, adding body and gelatin to the finished stock.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth as its flavor softens into the liquid.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness and aroma to the background of the stock.

The step that matters

Remove the scum as it rises. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that cloud the stock and can make it taste bitter if left to mix in. Skimming while it rises, and adding a little cold water to help it separate, keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, meat, rabbit, onion, celery. 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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