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Clear Gravy Soups

A clear broth made by simmering ham, beef, veal, and vegetables, then skimming and straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Clear Gravy Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pot

  1. Layer ham, beef, and veal in a large stew-pan or stock-pot.

  2. Break the bones and add them to the pot.

  3. Add the onions, turnips, carrots, celery, cloves, and mace.

  4. Cover the pot and heat over medium-high until the meat begins to stick to the bottom.

  5. Once browned, cover the meat with hot water.

Simmer and skim

  1. When it starts to boil, add ½ pint of cold water and skim off the scum.

  2. Repeat adding ½ pint of cold water and skimming until no more scum rises.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer gently for about 4 hours.

Strain and clarify

  1. Strain the broth through a clean cloth without squeezing.

  2. Let it cool and remove the fat.

  3. Beat 2 egg whites and their shells.

  4. Add to the broth and heat while stirring until it boils.

  5. Let it settle for 10 minutes.

  6. Strain again into a basin.

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. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Releases flavour and gelatin into the broth during long simmering.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic flavour to the broth.
Egg whites (in the method)
Trap suspended particles as they heat, clarifying the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the broth heats. Removing it as it forms keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting; leaving it in makes the broth cloudy and muddy in flavour.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, beef, veal, onion, turnip, 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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