Skip to main content
Main

Brown Soup Stock

A beef stock made by simmering shin of beef with water, peppercorns, cloves, salt, onion, carrot, turnip, parsley, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Brown Soup Stock

Why it works: Carrot and parsley 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 ↓

Brown Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place half the meat and the bones in a large pot with the cold water.

  2. Brown the remaining meat and vegetables in a skillet, then add to the pot.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the peppercorns, cloves, salt, onion, carrot, turnip, parsley, and any additional herbs.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for several hours.

  3. Strain the stock and discard solids before using.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Releases collagen and gelatin into the water, giving the stock body and mouthfeel.
Beef bones
Add gelatin and savory flavor to the stock during long simmering.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth when browned and simmered.

The step that matters

Brown the remaining meat and vegetables. Browning triggers the Maillard reaction, which creates deep, roasted flavors that a pale stock lacks. Browned bits add color and richness to the finished liquid.

Swap the clove

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

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

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

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipes