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Soup Stock

A veal stock made by simmering knuckle of veal, bacon, vegetables, and seasonings in water for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Soup Stock

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 ↓

Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat and bacon into pieces about 3 inches square.

  2. Break the bones into small pieces.

Make the stock

  1. Rub the butter on the bottom of a large stew pan, add ½ pint of water, and the broken bones, meat, vegetables, and seasoning.

  2. Cover the stew pan and place it on high heat, stirring occasionally.

  3. When the contents become jelly-like, add the cold water and let it simmer for 5 to 6 hours.

  4. When nearly cooked, add 2 tablespoons of salt to raise the scum.

  5. Remove the scum while it is boiling, then strain the stock through a fine sieve.

  6. Let the stock stand until cold and 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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Knuckle of veal
Releases gelatin and body into the water, giving the stock a rich, jelly-like texture.
Bacon
Adds savory fat and smoky depth to the stock.
Bones
Release gelatin and minerals during long simmering, thickening the stock and adding body.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and aromatic flavor to the stock.
Celery
Adds aromatic, vegetal flavor that rounds out the stock.
Butter
Coats the pan base so the meat and bones do not stick during the initial heating.

The step that matters

Removing the scum while it boils. Impurities and coagulated proteins rise to the surface as the stock boils. Skimming them while boiling keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting, and the salt helps bring them up to be removed.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, celery, pepper, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, celery, pepper, butter. 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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