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Knuckle of Veal Soup

A hearty veal soup made with knuckle, bacon, vegetables, and herbs, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,874 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Knuckle of Veal Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cut the bacon into slices and lay it at the bottom of a stewpan. Place the veal on top, breaking the bone in several places.

  2. Add enough cold water to cover the veal. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam.

  3. Add the onions, celery, carrots, turnips, thyme, savory, peppercorns, allspice, and cloves. Boil briefly with the vegetables, then reduce heat and simmer slowly for 3 to 4 hours.

  4. Remove the veal and bacon, and strain the soup. Let the soup cool to remove the fat, then pour it back into the stewpan.

Finish the soup

  1. Cut the meat and gristle from the veal and bacon into bite-sized pieces and return them to the soup to warm through.

  2. For a thicker soup, mix 3 tablespoons of fat with 4 tablespoons of flour, stir into the soup, and simmer until smooth.

  3. Add catsup, curry, or other seasonings to taste before serving.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,077 recipes

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

  3. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Breaks down slowly into the broth, giving it body and rich meaty flavor.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savory fat that flavors the broth as it simmers.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock as they cook down.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked with fat, giving a smoother, heavier texture.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after bringing to a boil. Foam carries impurities and coagulated proteins from the meat. Skimming it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or scummy.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, celery, carrot, turnip, thyme, allspice, clove):

  1. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  2. Leekbetter flavor fit
  3. Shallotbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, celery, carrot, turnip, thyme, allspice, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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