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Clear Gravy Soup

A clear broth made from ham, beef, veal, and vegetables, simmered for hours and strained.

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 ↓

Clear Gravy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pot

  1. In a large stew-pan or stock-pot, layer the ham slices at the bottom with the beef and veal.

  2. Break the bones and add them to the pot.

  3. Add the onions, turnips, carrots, celery, cloves, and mace.

  4. Cover the pot and heat over medium-high until the meat sticks to the bottom.

  5. Once browned, cover the meat with hot water.

Simmer and skim

  1. When it approaches a boil, add ½ pint of cold water and skim off the scum.

  2. Repeat adding ½ pint of cold water and skimming until no more scum rises.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer gently for about 4 hours.

Strain and clarify

  1. Strain the broth through a clean cloth into a stone pan without squeezing.

  2. Let it cool, then remove the fat from the top.

  3. Carefully decant the broth, avoiding the sediment at the bottom.

  4. Beat 2 egg whites and their shells.

  5. Add the mixture to the soup and bring to a boil.

  6. Let it settle for 10 minutes.

  7. Strain again through a fine cloth.

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. Turnip + carrottop 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. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + carrottop 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

Egg whites (in the method)
Coagulate as they cook, trapping suspended particles so the broth comes out clear.
Beef
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth during long simmering.
Bones
Release collagen and minerals that give the broth body and richness.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they simmer.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and mild aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Removing it as it forms keeps the broth clean and clear rather than cloudy or bitter.

Swap the turnip

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

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Turnipthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, beef, veal, meat, onion, carrot, 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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