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To Boil Carrots

A method for boiling carrots in salted water, then simmering them in beef broth or veal gravy with salt and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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To Boil Carrots

Why it works: Carrot and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Boil Carrots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and scrape the carrots lightly or pare them thinly, removing blemishes. If large, divide them and cut thick parts into quarters.

  2. Rinse the carrots and place them in boiling water with salt.

  3. For presentation, cut the tops of equal-sized carrots to 2.5 inches and point one end.

Boil and glaze

  1. Boil young carrots for 20-30 minutes; full-grown ones for 1.5-2 hours.

  2. Boil the prepared carrots in salted water for 45 minutes.

  3. Drain and arrange them upright in a saucepan.

  4. Add hot beef broth or veal gravy to half their height, season with salt and sugar.

  5. Boil briskly for 30 minutes or longer if needed.

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. Carrot + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

  2. Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Carrot + buttertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Carrot + sugartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots
Form the main body of the dish and provide natural sweetness and texture as they soften.
Beef broth or veal gravy
Adds savory flavor and moisture to the carrots as they reduce in the pan.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the carrots brown lightly as the liquid reduces.

The step that matters

Boil briskly after adding the broth. Carrots need enough cooking time to become tender throughout, and boiling the broth down concentrates its flavor so it coats the carrots rather than leaving them watery.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, beef, sugar):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Onionfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, beef, sugar. 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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