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On Stock, and Clean Soups

A clear beef stock made by simmering beef, bones, and vegetables, then skimming fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and turnip 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 ↓

On Stock, and Clean Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the vegetables carefully before adding them to the pot.

Simmer

  1. Simmer the beef and bones for 4 to 5 hours to extract the essence.

  2. Maintain the heat at a simmering point.

  3. Remove the vegetables once they are done.

  4. Season lightly with pepper and herbs, being careful not to over-season.

  5. Once the meat is thoroughly cooked, do not continue simmering.

Strain and clarify

  1. Pour the stock into a china or enamelled basin immediately after cooking to avoid cooling in metal.

  2. Skim off any fat once the stock is cold.

  3. Pour off gently without disturbing the dregs.

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. Leek + turniptop 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
Gives the stock its meaty flavour and body as it simmers.
Bones
Release gelatine and savoury flavour into the liquid during long simmering.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock's base flavour.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and colour to the finished stock.
Leeks
Add a mild, sweet onion-like flavour to the stock.

The step that matters

Keep the stock at a gentle simmer. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and cloudies the liquid, while a gentle simmer lets fat and impurities rise to be skimmed and keeps the stock clear.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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