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Modern Cookery

A rich veal stock enriched with calf's head bones, simmered with vegetables and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Simmer the veal with carrots, onion, celery, herbs, mace, peppercorns, and salt until the meat falls from the bones.

  2. Strain the broth and let it cool, then remove the fat.

  3. Bone half a calf's head, keeping the skin on, and return the bones to the pot.

  4. Stew the bones with the veal to enrich the stock.

Cook the head

  1. Pour the strained soup over the rolled head and bring to a gentle boil.

  2. Simmer for 1 to 1.25 hours, skimming regularly.

  3. Transfer the head to a deep pan or tureen, add the soup, and let it cool to prevent dark edges.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle or neck
Breaks down into gelatin-rich body that gives the stock its richness and mouthfeel.
Calf's head
Skin and connective tissue turn gelatinous, adding body and a silky texture to the finished dish.
Carrots
Release natural sugars and aromatic sweetness that round out the stock's flavor.
Onion
Contributes savory depth and aroma as it simmers into the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming during the simmer. Simmering must stay gentle, and regular skimming removes foam and impurities that would otherwise cloud the stock and muddy its flavor.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, onion, 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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