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Portable Soup

A thickened beef and veal bone broth reduced to a jelly-like consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Portable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Break the bones of the beef, veal, and cow's heels.

  2. Place the bones in a large soup pot.

  3. Cover the pot with water.

  4. Heat gradually until it nearly boils.

  5. Skim off any scum that rises.

  6. Add 1 quart of cold water.

  7. Bring the mixture to a boil again.

  8. Skim carefully.

  9. Add the remaining water.

  10. Let the broth boil gently for 8 hours.

  11. Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a large stone pan.

  12. Skim off the grease.

  13. Cool quickly.

Reduce the soup

  1. Pour the broth into a 3-gallon stewpan, avoiding the sediment at the bottom.

  2. Boil uncovered on high heat.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises.

  4. Reduce the broth until it thickens to a syrup-like consistency.

  5. Stir constantly to prevent burning.

  6. Test a spoonful; if it sets into a strong jelly, it's done.

  7. If not, boil longer.

Pot and set

  1. Pour the soup into dry small preserve pots.

  2. Let the pots sit overnight.

  3. Place the pots in a large stewpan filled one-third with water over low heat, ensuring water doesn't reach the rim.

  4. Let the pots stand uncovered for 6-7 hours to achieve the proper thickness.

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. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the broth body and a jelly-like set.
Veal knuckle
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, adding richness and body to the stock.
Cow's heels
High in collagen, they release gelatin that lets the reduced broth set firm.
Water
Extracts flavour and gelatin from the bones during the long gentle simmer.

The step that matters

Reducing until it sets like a jelly. Boiling off water concentrates the gelatin and flavour. Stopping too early leaves a thin soup that won't set, while over-reducing can scorch the bottom, so constant stirring and the spoon test matter.

“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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