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A clear veal broth made by simmering a knuckle of veal with vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Broths

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Wash the knuckle of veal and crack the bones in two or three places.

  2. Place the veal in a stewpan and cover with cold water.

  3. Bring to a simmer, skimming off the scum as it rises.

Simmer and strain

  1. Once the surface is clear, add the carrot, celery, turnips, and onions.

  2. Cover and let simmer gently for 4 to 5 hours.

  3. Strain the broth through a 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 + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Celery + turniptop 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

Veal knuckle
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Onions
Release sugars and savoury compounds during slow simmering, adding depth of flavour.
Celery
Contributes aromatic compounds that give the broth a fresh, savoury background flavour.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and earthy aroma as they soften in the long simmer.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum as the water heats. Scum is coagulated proteins and impurities that rise to the surface. Removing them while heating keeps the broth clear and prevents off, bitter flavours from dispersing through it.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, celery, 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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