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White Stock

A clear veal and ham stock made by simmering bones, trimmings, vegetables, and seasonings for five hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

White Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut up the veal.

  2. Place the veal in a large pot with the bones and poultry trimmings, and the ham, which has been rubbed with butter.

Simmer and strain

  1. Moisten with ½ cup of water and simmer until the gravy begins to flow.

  2. Add 4 quarts of water along with the remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 hours.

  3. Skim and strain carefully through a fine sieve.

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 + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin and body into the stock as they simmer.
Poultry trimmings
Bones and skin add extra gelatin and savory depth to the stock.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty flavor to the stock.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they cook down.
Celery
Adds aromatic, vegetal flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Skim and strain carefully through a fine sieve.. Skimming removes fat and coagulated impurities that would cloud the stock. Straining through a fine sieve catches small particles, giving a clear, clean-tasting result.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, onion, celery, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, onion, celery, butter. 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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