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Vegetable Stock

A clear broth made by simmering carrots, onions, celery, parsley, thyme, marjoram, garlic, and beef suet in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Vegetable Stock

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stew-pan, combine the carrots, onions, celery, parsley, thyme, marjoram, and garlic.

  2. Add the beef suet or skimmed fat and fry until lightly colored.

  3. Slowly add 5 quarts of water and bring to a boil, then skim off any foam that rises to the surface.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  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

Carrots
Provide sweetness and body to the stock as they soften and release their flavor.
Onions
Add savory depth and sweetness as they soften and brown lightly in the fat.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, savory flavor to the base of the stock.
Beef suet or skimmed fat
Carries flavor from the vegetables and helps them brown lightly when fried.

The step that matters

Skim off the foam after boiling. Foam is made of proteins and impurities released from the ingredients as the water heats. Skimming it keeps the stock clear and prevents a cloudy, off-tasting broth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, marjoram, clove, garlic):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, marjoram, clove, garlic. 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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