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Veal and Tapioca Broth

A clear broth made from veal or calf's foot, tapioca, egg, and cream, seasoned with salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Veal and Tapioca Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Break the veal or calf's foot into small pieces.

  2. Simmer in water until reduced by half.

  3. Strain and skim the liquid.

Thicken and finish

  1. Add tapioca and simmer for 30 minutes.

  2. Season with salt.

  3. Remove from heat, stir in the beaten egg and cream.

  4. Heat gently for 1-2 minutes without boiling.

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. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Veal + creamtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,845 recipes

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

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle or calf's foot
Releases gelatin as it simmers, giving the broth body and a silky mouthfeel.
Tapioca
Its starch swells in the hot liquid and thickens the broth.
Egg
Its proteins set gently in the hot broth, adding body and richness.
Cream
Adds fat for a smoother, rounder texture and a mellower flavour.

The step that matters

Heating gently after adding the egg. Once the beaten egg goes in, boiling makes its proteins tighten and curdle, leaving the broth grainy instead of smooth. Keeping the heat gentle lets the egg thicken it evenly.

“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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