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Soup a LA Francaise

A hearty French beef broth with veal bones, fowls' heads, liver, leeks, turnips, celery, burnt onion, and carrot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,172 recipes mention both. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large stewpan, place the beef, veal bones, fowls' heads, and calf's liver.

  2. Cover with 4 quarts of water and bring to a boil.

  3. Remove any scum that rises to the surface.

Simmer and serve

  1. Add the leeks, turnips, celery, burnt onion, carrot, and salt.

  2. Simmer slowly for 7 hours, removing scum as needed.

  3. Serve with sippets of bread in the soup.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Veal + livertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together392 recipes

    Shared aroma: enoic acid (butter, cheesy).

  3. Leek + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + carrottop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 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

Beef
Gives the broth its deep, meaty flavor as it simmers for hours.
Veal bones
Release gelatin and body into the broth, giving it a fuller mouthfeel.
Leeks
Add a mild, sweet onion-like aroma to the broth.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and color to the broth.
Celery
Contributes savory, aromatic flavor to the broth.
Burnt onion
Adds a dark color and smoky, caramelized depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Removing scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Skimming it as it forms keeps the broth clear and free of bitter, muddy flavors during the long simmer.

Flavor stand-ins for the turnip

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

  1. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Turnipthe original
  3. Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Chiveabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, liver, leek, celery, onion, carrot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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