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Soups. Stock

A beef stock made by simmering beef or a leg-bone with water and vegetables.

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 ↓

Soups. Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef and water.

  2. Let it stew slowly for 1 hour to draw out the gravy.

  3. Bring it to nearly a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  4. Add the carrots, turnips, leeks, parsnip, celery, garlic, onion, cloves, and peppers.

  5. Skim off any additional scum that rises.

  6. Cover and let the stock stew gently until done.

Strain and chill

  1. Strain the stock for use and refrigerate.

  2. Once cold, remove any fat that rises to the top.

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. 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

Beef
Releases gravy and flavor into the water as it stews, giving the stock its body.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the stock as they simmer.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma as it softens in the liquid.
Celery
Contributes aromatic flavor to the simmering stock.
Leeks
Add mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Foam that rises while the stock heats contains proteins and impurities. Removing it early keeps the stock clear and prevents a muddy, off flavor.

Swap the clove

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

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

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