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Rich Strong Stock

A hearty stock made from beef, veal, ham, poultry trimmings, vegetables, herbs, and spices, simmered for five hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery 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 ↓

Rich Strong Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Melt the butter in a clean stewpan.

  2. Add the ham, cut into thin slices, trimming off any rusty fat.

  3. Cut the beef and veal into pieces about 3 inches square and add them to the pan.

  4. Set the pan on the stove and stir frequently until the meat is evenly browned.

Simmer the stock

  1. Add the beef and veal bones, poultry trimmings, and pour in the cold water.

  2. Skim the surface well and occasionally add a little cold water to prevent boiling.

  3. Add all other ingredients very slowly and simmer for 5 hours without letting it come to a brisk boil.

Strain and rest

  1. Strain through a fine sieve or cloth, and the stock will be ready for use the next day.

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. Carrot + celerytop 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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Gives the stock its deep meaty flavor and body as it simmers.
Veal knuckle
Releases gelatin during long simmering, giving the stock body and a silky mouthfeel.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty depth that rounds out the flavor of the stock.
Butter
Fat that carries flavor and helps the meat brown in the pan.
Onions
Caramelize slightly when browned, adding sweetness and color to the stock.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer below a brisk boil. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and cloudies the liquid, while a gentle simmer keeps the stock clear and lets collagen slowly release gelatin.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Garlicfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, butter, onion, carrot, 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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