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Shin-of-beef Soup

A hearty soup made from beef shin, vegetables, and fine sago, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Shin-of-beef Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat from the bones into small pieces.

  2. Break up the bones and remove the marrow.

  3. Heat the dripping in a saucepan until very hot.

  4. Fry the meat and bones until browned.

  5. Pour off the dripping.

Make the soup

  1. Add the cold water and salt.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface carefully.

  4. Cut the vegetables into quarters.

  5. Add the peeled vegetables.

  6. Simmer gently for four hours.

  7. Add water if it boils away.

  8. Strain the soup before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 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

Shin of beef
Provides the main meat flavour and body as it simmers into the broth.
Dripping
Fat that browns the meat and bones, adding roasted flavour to the soup.
Fine sago
Starch that slightly thickens the soup as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skim the surface carefully. Foam and fat rise as the water comes to a boil. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy finish.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

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