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Strong Broth to Keep for Use

A strong broth made from beef and mutton, seasoned with onion, herbs, pepper, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Strong Broth to Keep for Use

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the bones of the beef and mutton into pieces.

  2. Add enough water to cover the meat and a little salt.

  3. Skim the surface clean.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the onion, sweet herbs, pepper, and nutmeg.

  2. Boil until the meat is in pieces and the strength has boiled out.

  3. Strain the broth and keep it 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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of beef
Breaks down during long boiling, releasing flavour and body into the broth.
Scrag end of neck of mutton
Adds rich meaty flavour and gelatin-rich body to the broth as it simmers.
Whole onion
Contributes savoury, sweet aroma to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface. Foam and fat that rise early can make the broth cloudy and greasy. Removing them before the long boil gives a clearer, cleaner-tasting result.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mutton, meat, clove, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, meat, clove, pepper, nutmeg. 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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