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Clear Stock

A clear beef and veal stock made by simmering bones and aromatics for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Clear Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces and chop the bones.

Make the stock

  1. Place the meat and bones in a pan with cold water, cover, and bring to a boil.

  2. Skim the surface well, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

  3. Fry the onions in the butter, slice the carrot, and add both to the soup.

  4. Cover and simmer for an additional 3 hours.

Strain and clarify

  1. Strain the stock and remove all the fat once it is cold.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Releases gelatin and flavour into the water, giving the stock body.
Knuckle of veal
Adds collagen-rich bones that help the stock set and feel silky.
Butter
Carries the frying flavour of the onions into the stock.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften and cook.

The step that matters

Skim the surface well after bringing to a boil. Coagulated proteins and fat rising from the meat cloud the stock if left in. Removing them early keeps the finished stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, butter, thyme, parsley, carrot, celery):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, butter, thyme, parsley, carrot, 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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