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To Clear Stock

A method to clarify stock using thick jelly, eggs, carrot, and beef.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Clear Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Carefully remove the grease from the stock.

  2. In a bowl, mix the thick jelly, eggs, carrot, and beef thoroughly.

Simmer and strain

  1. Place the mixture in a soup kettle on the back of the range.

  2. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

  3. Strain the mixture using a funnel-shaped tin strainer.

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. Carrot + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

  2. Egg + beeftop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + carrottop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Thick jelly
Forms the base liquid and gives the stock its body.
Eggs
Whites trap fine particles as they set, helping clarify the stock.
Raw lean beef
Adds meaty flavour to the stock.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Simmer gently. The egg mixture forms a raft that collects impurities as it gently simmers. Vigorous boiling breaks up this raft and pushes particles back into the liquid, clouding the stock.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, beef):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, beef. 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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