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Boiled Beef

A simple boiled beef with vegetables and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Boiled Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Choose a cut of beef: brisket, blade bone, leg, or shin.

  2. Place the beef in a stewpot and cover with water, adding about 1 quart more than needed.

  3. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off any scum that rises.

Simmer

  1. Once the liquid is clear, add the carrots, turnips, onions, celery, peppercorns, cloves, and herbs.

  2. Bring back to a boil, then reduce heat and cover to simmer gently.

  3. After 1 hour, remove the vegetables and trim them, leaving the outer leaves of the celery and the ends of the onions.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

Beef
Provides the main meat flavour and, as it cooks slowly, body to the broth.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the broth.
Turnips
Contribute mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Onions
Add aroma and savoury sweetness as they soften in the liquid.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic backbone to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum while the liquid comes to a boil. Proteins and impurities rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and prevents a murky, greasy taste.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, onion, celery, parsley. 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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