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Soup Stock, or Broth

A clear beef or veal stock made by simmering bones, meat, vegetables, and herbs in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Soup Stock, or Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the cracked bone and meat in the bottom of a soup kettle.

  2. Add cold water and heat gradually.

  3. Skim off any blood and albumen that rises as it boils.

Simmer

  1. Add the whole carrot, turnip, onion, and herbs.

  2. Cook slowly for 2 hours to secure flavor.

Strain and chill

  1. Strain through a sieve or a folded towel in a colander into an earthen vessel.

  2. When cold, remove the fat that rises.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of beef or veal
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the water during slow cooking.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Turnip
Contributes mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the broth.
Onion
Provides savory aroma and depth as it cooks slowly in the liquid.
Bay leaf
Adds a subtle aromatic note that rounds out the stock's flavor.

The step that matters

Skim off blood and albumen as it boils. Coagulated proteins that rise to the surface can cloud the stock and give it an off taste. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and clean-flavored.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, onion, clove, celery, sage):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Winter savoryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, onion, clove, celery, sage. 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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