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Shin, of Beef Soup

A clear beef shin soup seasoned with pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, sherry, and herbs, clarified with egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Shin, of Beef Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the shin of beef into small pieces and wash thoroughly.

  2. Boil the beef with pepper and salt in enough water to cover it.

Skim and simmer

  1. Remove the black scum that rises to the surface.

  2. Add a little cold water to raise the white scum and skim it off.

  3. Reduce the heat and let the soup simmer until it thickens.

  4. Strain the soup and cut away all the fat.

Finish and clear

  1. Season with soup herbs and adjust pepper and salt to taste.

  2. Bring the soup to a boil again.

  3. Clear the soup with the beaten white of an egg.

  4. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and sherry.

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

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

  2. Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Beef + sherrytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together871 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Sauce + sherrytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Beef + saucetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,650 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Provides the meat and collagen that give the soup body and richness as it simmers.
Egg white
Its proteins coagulate when heated, trapping particles so the broth becomes clear.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds savoury, tangy depth that rounds out the flavour of the broth.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic sweetness that brighten the finished soup.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise while boiling. Removing it early keeps the broth clean-tasting and clear; letting it cook back in makes the soup cloudy and bitter.

“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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