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Bouillon Soup

A clear beef broth made by simmering beef shank with carrots, onions, lemon, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bouillon Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the beef shank in a large pot and cover with cold water.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 hours.

  3. Add the chopped carrots, onions, and salt to taste.

  4. Continue boiling until the meat falls from the bones.

Strain and chill

  1. Strain the mixture through a sieve and refrigerate until cold.

  2. Remove any grease that rises to the top.

Serve

  1. Reheat the bouillon and serve in cups with a slice of lemon in each.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

  5. Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shank
Releases flavor and gelatin into the water as it simmers, giving the broth body.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth during simmering.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth during simmering.

The step that matters

Chilling before skimming. Fat solidifies on top of cold broth, so it can be lifted off cleanly. Skimming warm broth leaves more grease behind and a greasy mouthfeel.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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