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Soup

Consommé

A clear beef and veal broth made by simmering meat, water, and vegetables for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Consommé

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the meat, water, salt, and pepper in a large soup kettle.

  2. Bring the contents to a slow boil for 1 hour.

  3. Increase the heat to a good boil and skim off any scum.

  4. After another hour, add the vegetables and herbs.

  5. Boil gently for about 10 hours, ensuring the soup never stops boiling.

  6. Do not add water once cooking has started.

  7. Avoid boiling too vigorously.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Celery + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Provides the main flavour and gelatin that gives the finished consommé body.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the broth as it simmers.
Onions
Contribute savoury depth and aroma to the broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic flavour to the broth.
Leeks
Add mild onion-like aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming and keeping a gentle simmer. Scum that is not skimmed off can cloud the broth and muddy its flavour. Boiling too vigorously breaks up the solids and emulsifies fat into the liquid, making the consommé cloudy. Keeping the heat controlled keeps the stock clear.

Swap the allspice

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

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

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

More consommé recipes

Chicken 21Veal 18Soup 15Vegetable 11Rice 8Custard 7 See all 50 →

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