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Soup Stock

A clear beef stock made by simmering beef, vegetables, and optional chicken for six hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Soup Stock

Why it works: Leek and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wind the beef with twine to keep it intact.

  2. In a large pot, combine the beef and cold water.

  3. Bring to a boil, then add the carrots, leeks, onion, and turnip.

  4. If available, add the head and neck of a chicken.

Simmer and strain

  1. Boil slowly for 6 hours.

  2. Remove from heat and strain the stock.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Store and reheat

  1. Store in a cool place.

  2. When needed, skim off the grease and reheat to boil.

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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Leek + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main meaty flavor and gelatin-rich body as it simmers slowly.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Leeks
Contribute a mild onion-like aroma and savory background flavor.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma when cooked slowly in the liquid.
Turnip
Adds subtle sweetness and earthy aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Keep the boil slow. A gentle simmer extracts flavor and collagen while keeping the stock clear. A hard rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and turns it cloudy.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, leek, onion, turnip, pepper):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, leek, onion, turnip, 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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