Skip to main content
Main

Stock

A rich stock made from beef, veal, and optional vegetables, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Stock

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat from the bones, reserving suitable pieces for fricandeau.

  2. Break the bones into small pieces and place them in a large stock pot with the meat.

  3. Add optional vegetables and a little coarse sea salt.

  4. Fill the pot with cold water and bring to a gentle boil.

Simmer and strain

  1. Skim the surface as it begins to simmer, keeping the pot covered except when skimming.

  2. Simmer gently for 7 to 8 hours.

  3. Strain the stock through a cloth or sieve into basins.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Gravy beef
Releases gelatin and flavour into the liquid during long simmering, giving body to the stock.
Leg of beef
Adds meaty flavour and gelatin as it slowly breaks down during the long simmer.
Knuckles of veal
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the stock a rich, full body.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface as it simmers. Scum and fat that rise early can cloud the stock and make it greasy. Skimming while the pot is kept mostly covered keeps the liquid clear and the flavour clean.

Swap the turnip

The recipe marks turnip as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, carrot, celery, leek):

  1. Turnipthe original
  2. Parsnipfits about as well
  3. Chivefits less well
  4. Onionfits less well

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

You might also like

Beef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipes