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Soup

Portable Soup

A long‑boiled broth made from beef shin and veal knuckle, seasoned with black peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Portable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the shin of beef and knuckle of veal in a large pot and cover with water.

  2. Heat gradually to soften the meat, skimming off any scum that rises.

  3. Allow to boil very slowly for 10 to 12 hours, skimming as needed.

  4. Strain the broth from the meat and let it cool completely.

Clarify and finish

  1. Remove the fat and any sediment that looks muddy.

  2. Reheat the broth and pour it through a sieve into a thick-bottomed pot.

  3. Add black peppercorns and bring to a quick boil.

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. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Supplies collagen that becomes gelatin, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Knuckle of veal
Adds bones and connective tissue that release gelatin, giving the broth body and a silky texture.
Black peppercorns
Adds a mild, aromatic peppery flavour to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Skimming during the long simmer. Scum and fat that rise early can cloud the broth and add greasy off-flavours. Keeping the liquid at a very slow boil and skimming regularly keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting.

“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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