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Stock for Clear Soups

A clear stock made from beef bones, lean beef, veal, water, salt, pepper, and kitchen bouquet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stock for Clear Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the beef bones and chopped meat in a clean soup kettle and cover with cold water.

  2. Let the mixture stand in a cool place for 1 hour.

  3. Break apart the chopped meat to prevent it from forming a tough mass while cooking.

Simmer

  1. Set the kettle on the stove where it won't reach boiling for at least 1 hour.

  2. Once it reaches boiling, keep it simmering for 5 hours.

Finish and chill

  1. Remove from heat and transfer to a stoneware bowl or crock.

  2. Season to taste and let it cool overnight.

  3. Once cold, remove all the fat and strain out the meat and bones.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef bones
Release gelatin and deep beef flavour into the water during long simmering.
Chopped lean beef
Adds meaty flavour to the stock as it cooks slowly in the water.
Lean veal
Contributes mild meat flavour and body to the stock.

The step that matters

Keep the kettle below boiling for the first hour. Starting cold and heating gently lets proteins and fat release slowly and coagulate into particles that can be skimmed. A rolling boil early on emulsifies fat into the liquid and clouds the stock.

“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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