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Brown Consomme

A clear beef and veal stock made by simmering browned meat and vegetables for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Brown Consomme

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces, less than 1 inch square.

  2. Heat half the butter in a frying pan and fry the vegetables until browned. Strain the vegetables and set aside in a colander.

Make the stock

  1. Add the remaining butter to a soup kettle and heat.

  2. Add the meat to the hot butter, stirring to coat and brown without scorching.

  3. Cover the meat with cold water and bring to a simmer for 1 hour.

  4. Add 1 gallon of cold water, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for at least 5 hours.

  5. After 4 hours, add the browned vegetables and spices.

  6. After 6 hours, you should have about 3 quarts of strong brown stock.

Clarify and season

  1. Let the liquid cool slightly, then strain out the solids.

  2. Return the stock to the heat, add salt, and bring to a hard boil.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises to the top.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  5. Allspice + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 savory meat flavor into the stock, giving it body and depth.
Lean veal
Adds gelatin for a fuller mouthfeel and a mild, delicate meaty flavor.
Butter
Fat that helps the meat and vegetables brown, adding rich, roasted flavor.
Onion
Browned in butter, it adds sweetness and deepens the stock's color and aroma.
Kitchen bouquet
A browning seasoning that adds a deep brown color to the finished stock.

The step that matters

Brown the meat without scorching. Browning creates roasted flavor and deep color through Maillard reactions. Scorched bits taste bitter and can darken and spoil the stock, so stir the meat to brown it evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, celery, carrot, clove, allspice, parsley):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, celery, carrot, clove, allspice, parsley. 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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