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Stock I

A rich beef stock made by simmering bones, meat, vegetables, and aromatics for hours, then clarified with egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stock I

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef and onions

  1. Wipe the beef.

  2. Cut the beef into small pieces.

  3. Place the bone and part of the meat in a kettle.

  4. Cover with 4 quarts of cold water.

  5. Let the beef soak for 30 minutes.

  6. Melt the marrow in a pan.

  7. Slice the onions.

  8. Fry the onions until brown. Add the onions to the kettle.

  9. Fry the remaining meat until brown. Add the browned meat to the soup.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the carrots, turnips, celery, parsley, bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns, and mixed herbs tied in a cloth.

  2. Stir in the salt.

  3. Simmer for 8 to 10 hours.

  4. Strain the stock.

  5. Cool quickly.

  6. Remove the fat.

Clarify and finish

  1. Beat the egg white and shell. Mix the beaten egg white and shell with cold stock.

  2. Heat and boil for 5 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat. Add ½ cup cold water.

  4. Let stand until ready to strain again.

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 + 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. Celery + parsleytop 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

Beef shin
Provides rich beefy flavor and gelatin that gives the stock body.
Marrow
Adds richness and fat that carries savory flavor through the stock.
Onions
Browning them adds deeper color and sweet, roasted flavor to the stock.
Egg white and shell
Coagulates as it heats, trapping fine particles so the stock turns clear.

The step that matters

Cool quickly. Stock held warm for long can spoil, and cooling fast lets the fat set on top so it can be removed cleanly.

Swap the clove

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

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

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