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Soups. Stock.

A hearty beef stock made by simmering beef with water, carrots, turnips, leeks, parsnip, celery, garlic, onion, cloves, and peppers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Soups. Stock.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef and water.

  2. Let it stew slowly for 1 hour to draw out the gravy.

  3. Bring it to nearly a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

Simmer and finish

  1. Add the carrots, turnips, leeks, parsnip, celery, garlic, onion, cloves, and peppers.

  2. Skim off any additional scum that rises and let the stock stew gently, covered, until done.

  3. Strain the stock for use and remove any fat that rises when cold.

  4. Ensure the meat is stewed until it falls apart for maximum flavor.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together590 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Leek + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the water, giving the stock its body and taste.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock as they soften during stewing.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it cooks down into the liquid.
Leeks
Contribute a mild, sweet onion-like aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Skimming it early keeps the stock clear and free of bitter, muddy flavors.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, carrot, turnip, leek, parsnip, celery):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, carrot, turnip, leek, parsnip, 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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