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Beef Broth

A vegetable broth with butter, bread, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Beef Broth

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 ↓

Beef Broth

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Make stock from beef and veal bones, well skimmed.

  2. Wash and peel the vegetables.

  3. Cook the vegetables whole in the stock pot.

  4. Cut the carrot and turnip into round slices.

  5. Chop the cabbage into small pieces.

Cook the soup

  1. In a stewpan, combine all vegetables with butter.

  2. Cover the stewpan and cook slowly for about 10 minutes.

  3. Season with pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg.

  4. Strain the stock over the vegetables.

  5. Let the vegetables simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming occasionally.

Bake and serve

  1. Slice the dinner roll into thin rounds.

  2. Place the roll slices on a baking sheet.

  3. Bake until golden brown at 350°F (175°C).

  4. Moisten the baked roll slices with a little stock.

  5. Pour the soup over the roll slices.

  6. Sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 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

Stock
Forms the liquid base and carries the flavour of the vegetables and bones.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour as the vegetables cook gently.
Dinner roll
Toasted slices soak up broth and give the soup a firm, bread-like texture.
Cabbage
Adds body and a mild sweetness as it softens during slow simmering.

The step that matters

Baking the roll slices until golden brown. Browning drives off surface moisture and creates toasted flavour, so the slices stay sturdy enough to hold broth without turning soggy or burning.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg. 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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