Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
To Make Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and simmer
Cut the beef and ham into pieces no larger than 2 inches.
Place the meat in a 2-gallon pot with the onions, turnip, carrot, and celery.
Pour in 5 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil slowly.
Skim off any foam, then reduce heat to let it simmer gently for 6 hours.
Strain the stock through a colander and return the meat and vegetables to the pot.
Add 4 quarts of hot water and boil for an additional 4 hours.
Reduce and thicken
Strain both stocks through a scalded cloth and combine them in a large pot.
Boil uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 3 pints.
Transfer to a small saucepan and boil slowly, stirring frequently, until thickened and a fine yellowish-brown color is achieved.
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.
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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,418 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 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
- Beef
- Releases gelatin and flavor into the water, giving the stock body and a rich beefy taste.
- Ham
- Adds savory, salty depth to the broth as it simmers.
- Onions
- Contribute sweetness and aromatic flavor as they cook down into the stock.
- Celery
- Adds a fresh, vegetal aroma that rounds out the broth's background flavor.
- Carrot
- Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the stock.
The step that matters
Skimming the foam after the first boil. Foam is coagulated protein and impurities rising from the meat; removing it keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting. Boiling hard instead of simmering would emulsify fat and cloud the liquid.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, onion, turnip, carrot, celery):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, onion, turnip, carrot, 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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