Skip to main content
Drink

Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

A clear stock made from beef, veal, ham, and aromatics, simmered for hours and strained for use in pies and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef, veal, and water.

  2. Add the ham, carrots, parsley, onion, bay leaves, mace, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 to 6 hours.

Finish and strain

  1. Skim off any fat after the mixture has cooled.

  2. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cloth to achieve clarity.

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 + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin
Releases gelatin and collagen during long simmering, giving the stock body and a rich mouthfeel.
Veal knuckle or neck
Adds bones and connective tissue that dissolve into gelatin, giving the stock body and setting power.
Lean ham
Contributes savory, salty flavor that deepens the overall taste of the stock.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the simmering liquid.
Onion
Contributes savory aroma and sweetness as it softens and infuses the stock.

The step that matters

Keep the simmer gentle. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and cloudies the liquid, making it hard to clarify. A gentle simmer keeps the stock clear and lets collagen dissolve slowly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, ham, carrot, parsley, onion, clove):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, carrot, parsley, onion, clove. 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.

You might also like