Why it works: Mace and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓
Yeal Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Wash the veal and place it in a stewpan with enough cold water to cover it.
Simmer slowly, skimming carefully and adding cold water once or twice to help the scum rise.
After skimming, add the rice and the spice bag containing mace, cloves, peppercorns, and sweet herbs.
Cover and simmer for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from burning.
Strain and serve
Remove the meat and spice bag, then strain the broth into a tureen and serve.
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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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Rice + clovetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Rice + macetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together932 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Veal + macetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,761 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Veal + ricetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,119 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal knuckle
- Gives the broth its main body, meaty flavour and natural gelatine.
- Rice
- Thickens the broth slightly as its starch softens during long simmering.
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the broth.
- Cloves
- Adds a strong, warm aroma that flavours the broth during simmering.
The step that matters
Skimming while simmering. Simmering must stay slow and the scum must be removed carefully. Boiling vigorously breaks up the fat and proteins, making the broth cloudy and greasy, while skimming removes impurities that would spoil its clarity and taste.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, rice, clove):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, rice, clove. 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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