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Consomme, or Gravy for Pies

A clear consommé made from veal, calf's foot, beef shin, ham, and vegetables, simmered for hours and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Consomme, or Gravy for Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut the meat from the bones into small pieces.

  2. Place the ham at the bottom of a stock pot and add the other meats and bones on top.

  3. Add about 1 quart of water, cover, and let it simmer over low heat, shaking occasionally to prevent burning.

  4. Once reduced to a glaze, fill the pot with water until the meat is covered by about 4 inches.

Make the broth

  1. Add onions, carrots, celery, allspice, and pepper if desired.

  2. Skim off any scum that rises to keep the broth clear.

  3. Let it boil slowly for 5 to 6 hours, then strain through a fine sieve into flat dishes.

  4. Remove all the fat from the surface.

Second stock and storage

  1. For a second stock, add more water and boil again as before.

  2. Reduce any unused stock to a glaze by boiling until thick, then pour into containers to store.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Carrot + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,021 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 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
Gives body and gelatin, so the stock sets to a rich glaze as it reduces.
Calf's foot
Adds natural gelatin, giving the finished consommé a silky, full texture.
Beef shin
Releases flavour and collagen during long simmering, deepening the broth.
Ham knuckle
Adds savoury, smoky depth to the broth as it simmers for hours.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they cook slowly into the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and fat that rises as the broth heats. Removing it keeps the liquid clear; if left to churn back in, it clouds the consommé.

Swap the allspice

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

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

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