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Soups. Stock

A clear beef stock made by simmering beef and water with vegetables and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Soups. Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef and water.

  2. Let it stew slowly for 1 hour to draw out the gravy.

  3. Bring it to nearly a boil, skimming off the scum that rises.

  4. Add the vegetables and spices, then skim off any additional scum.

  5. Cover and let the stock stew gently until the meat is tender.

Strain and chill

  1. Strain the stock for use and refrigerate.

  2. Once cold, remove any fat that rises to the top.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together590 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Leek + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Gives the stock its meaty flavour and body as it breaks down slowly in water.
Water
Carries the flavour out of the beef and vegetables and forms the stock itself.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury depth as it softens and releases its flavour into the liquid.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth to the finished stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Skimming it as it forms keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting instead of cloudy and greasy.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, carrot, turnip, leek, parsnip, 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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