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Bouillon

A clear beef broth made by simmering lean beef, vegetables, and seasonings for several hours.

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

Why it works: Parsley and carrot 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 ↓

Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the meat in a kettle with cold water for one hour.

  2. Bring slowly to a boil and simmer for two hours, skimming off any scum.

  3. Add the vegetables and seasoning, then simmer for three more hours.

  4. Strain the broth and cool without covering.

Clarify and serve

  1. Remove the fat and season with salt and pepper if necessary.

  2. In a kettle, combine ½ pound of finely chopped lean meat and the white of an egg, then stir until it boils for five minutes.

  3. Strain the bouillon through a fine cloth without pressing to achieve a clear, amber color.

  4. Serve hot or cold in bouillon cups.

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. Parsley + carrottop 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. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  4. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Onion + carrottop 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

Lean beef
Provides the flavor and body of the broth as it simmers slowly.
Egg white (in the method)
Traps fine particles as it cooks, helping the bouillon turn clear.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the simmered broth.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the simmered broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savory flavor to the simmered broth.

The step that matters

Clarifying with the egg white. The egg white and chopped meat must be stirred until the mixture boils and coagulates, which captures cloudy particles. If the mixture is stirred too little or pressed through the cloth, the bouillon stays cloudy.

Swap the clove

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

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

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