Skip to main content
Main

Beef Bouillon

A clear beef and veal broth made by simmering minced meat, bones, and aromatics for hours.

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

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine minced beef, minced veal, and cracked bones in an agate-lined saucepan.

  2. Cover with cold water and bring slowly to a boil.

  3. Simmer for 4 hours.

  4. Season with salt, pepper, and kitchen bouquet, then remove from heat.

  5. When the broth is cold and jelly-like, skim off the fat.

Strain and clarify

  1. Heat the broth to strain out bones and meat.

  2. Return the broth to heat.

  3. Add egg white and crushed eggshell, then bring to a boil.

  4. Add a bit of ice to check boiling.

  5. Pour the broth through a colander lined with white flannel.

Finish and serve

  1. Heat to scalding.

  2. Add sherry.

  3. Serve hot or chill for iced bouillon.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + sherrytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together871 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 meaty flavour as it simmers for hours.
Veal bones
Release gelatin, which helps the cooled broth set jelly-like.
Egg white
Coagulates and traps cloudy particles so they can be strained out, clearing the broth.
Kitchen bouquet
Adds a deeper colour and a mild roasted flavour to the broth.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a touch of flavour at the end.

The step that matters

Adding the egg white and crushed eggshell before the boil. As the egg white heats it sets and traps cloudy particles, which are then strained out to leave the broth clear. Boiling it hard can break up this forming mass, leaving the broth cloudy.

“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.

You might also like

Beef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes