Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
First Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the meat into small pieces, removing all fat.
Break or saw the bone across and remove the marrow.
Weigh the meat and bone together; allow 1 quart of cold water for every pound.
Simmer the stock
Put the meat, bone, and water into a large saucepan and add the salt.
Bring to a boil, then add the peeled vegetables.
Simmer gently for five hours, skimming occasionally.
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.
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,606 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 or knuckle of veal
- Collagen from the connective tissue and bone breaks down into gelatin, giving the stock body.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and aroma to the stock as it simmers.
- Carrot
- Adds sweetness and aroma to the stock as it simmers.
- Turnip
- Adds mild sweetness and aroma to the stock as it simmers.
The step that matters
Skimming during the simmer. Gentle simmering with occasional skimming removes foam and loose fat that would make the stock cloudy and greasy. A hard boil would emulsify fat into the liquid and make it murky.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Beetrootfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, 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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