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A hearty broth made with veal neck or knuckle, ham, vegetables, and spices, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the broth (or water), salt, onion, herbs, celery, carrot, mace, and peppercorns in a pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat.

  3. Simmer gently for 4 hours.

Strain and defat

  1. If the meat is in fragments, strain the gravy.

  2. Let the strained gravy cool to remove the fat.

Finish with meat and mushrooms

  1. Add mushroom buttons and bones if desired.

  2. Heat the meat with ¼ to ½ pint of broth until no blood seeps out.

  3. Moisten with boiling broth.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck or knuckle of veal
Connective tissue breaks down during slow simmering, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Beef or veal broth
Provides the savory liquid base into which the other flavors are extracted.
Onion
Releases sweetness and savory aroma into the liquid during simmering.
Celery
Adds a mild vegetal aroma that rounds out the broth's flavor.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness that balances the savory flavors.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 4 hours. A vigorous boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and clouds the broth. Gentle, steady heat extracts flavor and gelatin slowly while keeping the broth clear and easier to skim and strain.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, celery, carrot, ham, veal, mushroom):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, celery, carrot, ham, veal, mushroom. 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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