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Shin of Beef Soup

A hearty soup made with beef shin, vegetables, rice, and potatoes simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Shin of Beef Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Crack the shin bone and wash the beef.

  2. Place the beef in a large pot over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often.

  3. Add the sliced onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Simmer the soup

  1. Pour in the cold water and bring to a boil, skimming off any foam.

  2. Simmer for 2 hours.

  3. Add the finely chopped carrot, turnip, and cabbage, and simmer for another 2 hours.

  4. Stir in the rice, potatoes, salt, and pepper, and cook for 1 hour longer.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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 protein and, with long simmering, rich flavor and body from the bone and connective tissue.
Onions
Build a sweet, savory aroma base as they soften and brown slightly in the pot.
Rice
Releases starch as it cooks, slightly thickening the broth.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering and add starch, giving the soup body and substance.
Cabbage
Softens as it simmers, adding mild sweetness and texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after the water boils. Foam carries impurities from the beef that can make the broth cloudy and taste muddy, so removing it early keeps the soup clear and clean-flavored.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, turnip, carrot, rice, potato, celery):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, turnip, carrot, rice, potato, 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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