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Broth for Potages

A beef broth made by simmering lean beef with vegetables and seasonings for several hours.

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 ↓

Broth for Potages

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the beef in a soup kettle with cold water and salt.

  2. Set on high heat until boiling, then reduce to moderate heat.

  3. After 30 minutes, skim off the scum that forms on the surface.

  4. Add the carrot, turnip, leek, celery, parsley, bay leaf, onion, and garlic.

  5. Simmer for about 5 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the meat and vegetables.

  2. Strain the broth.

  3. Serve.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Releases flavor and gelatin into the water, giving the broth body and savoriness.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens and cooks into the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and a rounded, mellow vegetable flavor to the broth.
Leek
Adds a mild, delicate onion-like aroma that complements the beef.

The step that matters

Skim the scum. Coagulated proteins and fat rise to the surface as the broth heats. Skimming them early keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy result.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, leek, celery, parsley, 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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