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Meat-broth Literally, Pot to the Fire

A beef broth made by simmering meat, vegetables, and aromatics for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Meat-broth Literally, Pot to the Fire

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss and tie the pieces of meat as desired.

  2. Place the meat in a large kettle and add 4 quarts of cold water for every 2 pounds of meat.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil over a good fire, skimming off any froth that rises.

  2. Once the scum ceases to rise, add salt to taste.

  3. Reduce the heat and add the carrots, turnips, leeks, celery, parsley root, cloves, bay leaves, and burnt onion.

  4. Continue to boil gently for 5-6 hours until the meat is well cooked and the broth is flavorful.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 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

Beef
Releases flavor and gelatin into the water as it cooks slowly, giving the broth body and depth.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they simmer.
Leeks
Contribute a mild, savory onion-like aroma and flavor to the broth.
Celery
Adds savory, herbal aroma that rounds out the broth's flavor.
Burnt onion
Adds deep, roasted color and smoky, caramelized aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the froth as it comes to a boil. Proteins and impurities rise as foam during the first boil. Removing them before the broth simmers keeps it clear and prevents a cloudy, scummy flavor.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, leek, celery, parsley, onion. 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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