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Consomme

A clear beef consommé made with beef, giblets, vegetables, herbs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Consomme

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef and giblets with enough water to cover them.

  2. Add the assorted vegetables and herbs.

  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for several hours.

  4. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Clarify and season

  1. Once the broth is rich and flavorful, strain it to remove solids.

  2. Clarify the broth carefully to achieve a clear liquid.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt to taste.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  5. Carrot + thymetop 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

Beef
Releases flavor and gelatin into the broth during long simmering, giving body and richness.
Giblets of 2 fowls
Add extra poultry flavor and gelatin to the broth.
Assorted vegetables
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they simmer.
Herbs
Add aromatic flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Skim off impurities while simmering. Proteins and fat that rise to the surface can cloud the broth and make it taste greasy. Removing them early keeps the liquid clear and clean-flavored, which is what the clarifying step depends on.

Swap the onion

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

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

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