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Stock for Gravies and Soups

A clear beef stock made by simmering a leg or shin with vegetables and trimmings for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Stock for Gravies and Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the leg or shin of beef thoroughly and crack the bone in two or three places.

  2. Place the beef and any trimmings in a stew-pan and cover with cold water.

Simmer and skim

  1. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

  2. Skim off the scum until the broth is clear.

  3. Add ½ cup of cold water to help remove any remaining scum and skim again.

Cook and strain

  1. Add the chopped carrot, turnips, celery, and onion to the pot.

  2. Stir occasionally to prevent burning or sticking.

  3. Reduce heat and let the broth boil very slowly for 4 to 5 hours.

  4. Strain the broth through a sieve into a stone pan or jar.

  5. Once cooled, cover and store in a cool place.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef leg or shin
Gives the stock its meaty flavor and body as collagen from bone and connective tissue dissolves.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth to the broth as it cooks slowly.
Carrot
Contributes mild sweetness and aromatic flavor to the stock.
Celery
Adds a fresh, herbal aroma that rounds out the broth's flavor.
Turnips
Add subtle sweetness and earthy flavor during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Skimming removes coagulated proteins and impurities that would otherwise cloud the broth and taint its flavor. Doing it early and again after adding water keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Lettucefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, carrot, turnip, 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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