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Soup Stock

A hearty stock made by simmering beef, mutton, veal, onions, turnip, carrot, celery, salt, and pepper for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Soup Stock

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 ↓

Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the beef, mutton, and veal in a large pot and cover with cold water.

  2. Simmer slowly for at least 4 hours.

Make the stock

  1. Chop the onions, turnip, carrot, and celery, then add to the pot.

  2. Boil for 2 hours, skimming the surface before adding vegetables.

  3. Strain the stock and let it cool.

Store

  1. Once cool, remove the fat and store the stock in a cool place.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Releases gelatin and savoury flavour into the liquid as it simmers slowly.
Beef shin bone
Adds collagen and marrow that give the finished stock body and a richer mouthfeel.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften and release their flavour.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface before adding vegetables. Impurities and coagulated proteins rise as foam during simmering. Removing them keeps the stock clear and prevents off-flavours from developing.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, veal, turnip, carrot, celery, pepper. 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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