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Stock for Clear Soup

A clear beef stock made by simmering beef, vegetables, herbs, and peppercorns for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Stock for Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Place the beef in a saucepan and pour water over it.

  2. Bring to a boil, skim carefully, and add salt.

  3. Skim the stock again after a few minutes.

  4. Let it simmer slowly for 1 hour.

Simmer with vegetables

  1. Add the chopped vegetables, herbs, and peppercorns to the stock.

  2. Simmer all together for 4 hours.

  3. Strain the stock and set aside until cold.

Degrease and finish

  1. Remove all fat from the cold stock.

  2. Put the stock back in the saucepan with 2 ounces of fresh meat, a small piece of carrot, turnip, celery, onion, and a small bunch of herbs.

  3. Simmer for a short time and 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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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

Shin of beef
Its connective tissue turns to gelatin during long simmering, giving the stock body and depth.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth as it cooks slowly in the liquid.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness and colour to the broth.
Turnip
Adds a mild, earthy flavour to the stock.
Peppercorns
Release pungent aroma and warmth into the liquid.
Sweet herbs
Add aromatic, herbal notes that round out the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming and removing the fat. Foam and fat that rise early or after straining make the stock cloudy and greasy. Skimming while it simmers and chilling the stock so fat solidifies on top lets you lift it off cleanly, leaving a clear, light broth.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, 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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