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Stock for Clear Soups

A clear beef stock made by simmering beef, water, aromatics, and seasonings for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 214 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stock for Clear Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine the beef and cold water in a large pot. Bring to a slow boil.

  2. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface.

  3. Maintain a gentle boil for 8 to 10 hours.

  4. Strain the stock and let it cool.

Clarify and finish

  1. In the morning, skim off the fat from the top.

  2. Return the stock to the pot, avoiding any sediment.

  3. Add the onion, celery, sage, parsley, thyme, summer savory, bay leaves, peppercorns, and cloves.

  4. Boil gently for 10 to 20 minutes.

  5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  6. Strain the stock through a clean cloth or napkin.

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. Thyme + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together214 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together237 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Clear beef
Provides the meat and connective tissue that release flavour and body into the stock over long simmering.
Cold water
Extracts flavour from the beef gradually as it heats, giving a clear, unclouded liquid.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock as it simmers.
Celery
Contributes subtle vegetal aroma that rounds out the stock's flavour.
Bay leaves
Add a gentle herbal aroma to the stock during the final simmer.

The step that matters

Maintain a gentle boil. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and breaks up particles into the liquid, making the stock cloudy. A slow, gentle simmer keeps it clear while the beef gives up its flavour over hours.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, sage, parsley, thyme, summer savory, clove):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, sage, parsley, thyme, summer savory, clove. 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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