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Strong Broths for Soups and Gravy

A hearty broth made from beef, veal, and mutton simmered with vegetables and spices for soups and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Strong Broths for Soups and Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the beef, veal, and mutton in a large pot with the water.

Make the broth

  1. Bring to a boil, skim off any impurities, and add the onions, leeks, celery, carrots, turnips, sweet herbs, cloves, allspice, and salt.

  2. Skim again and let it simmer gently for 6 hours.

  3. Strain the broth and set aside for use.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth during long simmering.
Veal knuckle
Adds gelatin from bones and connective tissue, giving the broth body.
Mutton scrag
Contributes rich meaty flavor and fat to the broth.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften and brown in the liquid.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface. Impurities and fat rising during the initial boil cloud the broth if not removed. Skimming again during the simmer keeps the finished broth clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, mutton, leek, celery, carrot, turnip. 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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