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Brown Soup-stock

A rich beef stock made by browning meat and simmering with vegetables and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Brown Soup-stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the beef into 1-inch cubes and crack the bones.

  2. In a stock pot, combine the beef, bones, spices, and half of the chopped vegetables.

  3. Add the cold water and let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out the juices.

Brown

  1. In a pan, heat the butter or drippings, add the remaining beef, and brown it.

  2. Add the chopped vegetables to the pan and brown them without scorching.

  3. Combine the browned meat and vegetables with the stock in the pot.

Simmer and finish

  1. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 6 hours.

  2. Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve.

  3. Add salt and other seasonings to taste, then serve.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 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
Breaks down during long simmering, releasing gelatin and flavor into the stock.
Beef bones
Release collagen and gelatin, giving the stock body and a richer mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth as it browns and simmers.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savory background flavor to the stock.
Butter or beef drippings
Carries heat for browning and adds fat and roasted flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Browning the meat and vegetables. Browning triggers the Maillard reaction, creating deep roasted flavors and color. Scorched pieces turn bitter, so brown until golden, not black.

Swap the clove

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

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

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