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Brown Stock

A savory broth made by browning bones, ham or bacon, vegetables, and herbs, then simmering for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Brown Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and peel the vegetables.

  2. Chop or break the bones into small pieces.

  3. Heat the butter in a large stewpan.

Brown the bones and vegetables

  1. Add the bones, herbs, and vegetables to the hot fat.

  2. Cover and fry gently until everything is browned, stirring occasionally.

Simmer and skim

  1. Add cold water, salt, peppercorns, and clove.

  2. Bring to a gentle boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  3. Cover and simmer gently for 4 to 5 hours.

  4. Remove excess fat from the surface with a spoon when done.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw or cooked bones
Provide gelatin and body, giving the stock its rich texture as they simmer.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth as it browns in the fat.
Butter or sweet dripping
Carries heat for frying and helps brown the bones and vegetables.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens and browns.
Chicken neck, feet, gizzard, and liver
Adds gelatin and savory flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Fry gently until everything is browned. Browning the bones and vegetables in fat creates Maillard flavors that give the stock its deep brown color and roasted taste. Pale frying produces a weaker, thinner stock.

Swap the turnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, chicken, ham, onion, carrot, celery, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Turnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, chicken, ham, onion, carrot, celery, butter. 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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