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Stock for White Soup

A clear stock made from veal or ham or smoked beef, simmered with water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Stock for White Soup

Why it works: Veal and beef 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 ↓

Stock for White Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the washed veal or neck in a clean soup pot or a large stout iron saucepan.

  2. Layer the meat on top of the sliced ham or smoked beef.

  3. Pour in 1½ pints of cold water for a lighter stock or 1 pint for a richer stock.

  4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until flavors meld.

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. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

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

  2. Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle or neck
Provides gelatin and meaty flavor that give the stock body and richness.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty depth to the stock.
Cold water
Acts as the liquid that extracts flavor and gelatin from the meat as it simmers.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Starting with cold water and simmering gently lets flavor and gelatin extract slowly. A hard rolling boil makes the stock cloudy and greasy.

“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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