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Veal Broth

A clear broth made from veal knuckle, rice, mace, cloves, peppercorns, and sweet herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Veal Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the bones of the veal and wash it clean.

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

Simmer

  1. Simmer slowly, skimming carefully and adding cold water as needed to remove scum.

  2. After skimming, add the rice and spice bag.

  3. Cover and simmer for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from burning.

Strain and serve

  1. Remove the meat and spice bag, then strain the broth into a tureen.

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. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Rice + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Rice + macetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together932 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,761 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Veal + ricetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Releases gelatin and flavour into the water, giving the broth body and savour.
Rice
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during the long simmer.
Black peppercorns
Adds a warm, sharp spiciness that gives the broth aroma.
Mace
Contributes a warm, delicate aroma to the broth.
Cloves
Adds a strong, warm aroma that flavours the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming while simmering. Scum rises as the veal heats and, if left in, turns the broth cloudy and gives it a bitter, muddy taste. Skimming carefully and keeping the liquid at a slow simmer, not a boil, keeps the broth clear.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, rice, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. 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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