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Strong Beef Broth

A strong broth made from beef and mutton bones, onion, herbs, pepper, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Strong Beef Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the bones of the beef and mutton.

  2. Place the meat in a pot and cover with water.

  3. Add a little coarse sea salt and bring to a boil.

  4. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the onion, sweet herbs, pepper, and nutmeg.

  2. Boil until the flavors are well combined.

  3. Strain the broth through a fine sieve and keep for use.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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

Beef leg
Bones and meat release gelatin and savory flavor into the broth.
Mutton neck
Adds richness and body from its bones and meat to the broth.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aromatic depth as it cooks in the liquid.

The step that matters

Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.. Foam and coagulated proteins that rise early can cloud the broth and give it a muddy taste if left in. Removing them keeps the broth clear and clean-flavored.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mutton, meat, clove, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, meat, clove, pepper, nutmeg. 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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