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Soup Stock

A clear beef stock made by simmering shin bones, vegetables, and seasonings for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Soup Stock

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wipe the meat with a damp cloth and remove all the meat from the bone.

  2. Place the bones in a large porcelain-lined or granite soup kettle.

  3. Cut the meat into small pieces across the grain and lay on top of the bones.

  4. Add the cold water and stand the kettle on the back of the range for 1 hour.

Simmer and skim

  1. Then place it over a medium heat until it begins to steam and scum appears.

  2. Add ½ cup of cold water and remove the scum.

  3. Cover the kettle securely and simmer gently for 4 hours.

  4. Add the salt and vegetables, then simmer for 1 hour longer.

Strain and cool

  1. Remove from heat, strain through a colander, then through a fine sieve.

  2. Put the stock in a cold place to cool, then remove the grease.

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. 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. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Its bones and meat release gelatin and flavour into the long-simmered stock.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury aroma as it cooks into the liquid.
Carrot
Contributes natural sweetness and body to the finished stock.
Celery
Adds aromatic depth and a fresh, savoury background flavour.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Removing it early keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting instead of cloudy or bitter.

Swap the clove

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

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

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