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Stock, and Clear Soups

A clear stock made by simmering meat, bones, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and turnip 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 ↓

Stock, and Clear Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine meat and bones in a large pot.

  2. Add chopped vegetables: carrots, onions, leeks, celery, turnips, and parsnip.

  3. Cover with water and bring to a simmer.

  4. Maintain a steady heat without sudden temperature changes.

Strain and clarify

  1. After cooking, strain the liquid into an earthenware or enamelled basin.

  2. Skim off any fat once cooled, then pour off gently without disturbing the dregs.

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. Leek + turniptop 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

Meat
Releases savory flavour and gelatin into the liquid as it simmers.
Bones
Contribute body, gelatin and depth of flavour to the stock.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and a rounded background flavour.

The step that matters

Maintain a steady heat without sudden temperature changes. Boiling vigorously emulsifies fat and breaks up particles into the liquid, leaving the stock cloudy. A gentle, steady simmer keeps it clear and easier to skim.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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