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Calf's-foot Broth

A broth made by stewing calf's feet with lemon peel, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and egg yolk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Calf's-foot Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Stew the calf's feet in water (or water and milk) with lemon peel until the liquid reduces to 1½ pints, skimming off any scum.

  2. Let the broth cool in a basin, then remove all fat.

Finish and serve

  1. Warm ½ pint of the broth for serving, adding butter, sugar, and nutmeg.

  2. Remove from heat, stir in the beaten egg yolk, and heat gently until thickened, avoiding boiling to prevent curdling.

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. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's feet
Release gelatin and body into the broth as they stew, giving it a rich, thick texture.
Egg yolk
Thickens the warm broth as it heats gently and adds richness.
Butter
Adds fat and a smooth, rich mouthfeel to the warmed broth.
Milk
Adds richness and creaminess when used in place of part of the water.

The step that matters

Heat gently after adding the egg yolk. Egg proteins set as they warm, so at high heat or boiling the yolk scrambles and curdles instead of thickening the broth smoothly. Keep the heat low and stir steadily.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, lemon, butter, sugar, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Parsleyfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, lemon, butter, sugar, 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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