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Strong White Stock

A clear stock made from veal knuckle, beef shin bone, and meat, simmered and seasoned with coarse sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Strong White Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Place the veal knuckle and chopped shin bone in a large stock pot.

  2. Add enough water to cover the bones and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

  4. Simmer for several hours until the flavors are extracted.

Finish

  1. Strain the stock through a fine cloth or tamis.

  2. Season with coarse sea salt to taste.

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. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Veal + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin and body into the stock as they simmer.
Beef shin bone
Adds marrow and collagen, giving the stock deeper flavor and more body.

The step that matters

Skimming off scum. Foam that rises during the initial boil contains coagulated proteins and impurities. Removing it early keeps the stock clear and prevents off-flavors from returning into the liquid.

“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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