Name: A Very Nourishing Veal Broth
Ingredients: 1 knuckle of veal (with little meat); 1 old fowl; 4 shank bones of mutton (soaked and bruised); 3 blades of mace; 10 peppercorns; 1 onion; 1 large piece of bread; 3 quarts of water; Coarse sea salt (to taste)

Why it works: Mutton and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,488 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

A Very Nourishing Veal Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

Combine the veal knuckle, old fowl, shank bones, mace, peppercorns, onion, bread, and water in a stewpot.
Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then skim off any foam.
Simmer on low heat for 4 hours, or bake it.

Finish

Strain the broth and remove the fat.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.

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.

Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,488 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Meat + muttontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together936 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + muttontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,676 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle: Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the water, giving the broth body over a long simmer.
Old fowl: Adds deeper meaty flavor and gelatin to the broth during the long simmer.
Shank bones of mutton: Contribute collagen and rich flavor, thickening the broth as they simmer.
Bread: Helps bind and clarify the broth by absorbing impurities as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skim off any foam after bringing to a boil. Foam carries impurities and proteins that would make the broth cloudy and off-tasting. Skimming early keeps the finished broth clear and clean.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, meat, mutton, onion, bread):

Garlicfits better
Celeryfits better
Pepperfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, meat, mutton, onion, bread. 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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A Very Nourishing Veal Broth