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White Stock

A clear broth made by simmering veal or lean beef with bacon or ham, onions, celery, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

White Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine the veal or beef, bacon or ham, cold water, onions, and celery in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until nearly done.

  3. Add salt and continue cooking for one more hour.

Strain and skim

  1. Strain the stock and let it cool.

  2. Once cool, remove the fat from the surface.

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. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  3. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

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

  4. Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Knuckle of veal or lean beef
Provides collagen and meaty flavor that gives the stock body as it simmers.
Bacon or ham
Adds smoky, savory depth to the stock.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic flavor as they cook down.
Celery
Adds aromatic, vegetal flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Simmer gently rather than boil. A gentle simmer lets collagen slowly release gelatin while keeping the stock clear. A hard boil emulsifies fat and fine particles into the liquid, making it cloudy and greasy.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, onion):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion. 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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