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Portable Soup

A bone broth made from beef, veal, and cow's heels, simmered for hours and reduced to a thick, jelly-like consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and veal 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 ↓

Portable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Break the bones of the beef, veal, and cow's heels.

  2. Place the bones in a large soup pot.

  3. Cover the pot with water.

  4. Heat gradually until nearly boiling.

  5. Skim off any scum that rises.

  6. Add 1 quart of cold water to help remove remaining scum.

  7. Bring the mixture to a boil again.

  8. Skim off the scum.

  9. Add the remaining water.

  10. Let it boil gently for 8 hours.

  11. Strain through a fine sieve into a large stone pan.

  12. Skim off the grease.

  13. Cool quickly.

Reduce and set

  1. The next day, pour the liquid into a 3-gallon stew pan, avoiding the sediment at the bottom.

  2. Boil uncovered on high heat.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises.

  4. Reduce until thick like syrup. Be careful not to burn it.

  5. Test a spoonful; if it sets into a jelly, it's done. If not, boil longer.

Pot and rest

  1. Pour into dry small preserve pots.

  2. Let stand until the next day.

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. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Gives rich meaty flavor and gelatin from its bones and connective tissue.
Veal knuckle
Adds gelatin from its bones, helping the stock set into a firm jelly.
Cow's heels
Release large amounts of gelatin, which allows the reduced liquid to set.

The step that matters

Reduce until thick like syrup. Long boiling concentrates the gelatin and flavor. Too little reduction leaves it runny, while overheating or burning gives a scorched taste.

“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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