Name: Stock for White Soup
Ingredients: 1 knuckle of veal or part of the neck, thoroughly washed; 1 pound lean ham, skin and fat removed, cut into thick slices; or ½ pound Jewish smoked beef, smoked surface and fat removed; or Dutch or hung beef, smoked portions removed; 1½ pints cold water (for a lighter stock) or 1 pint (for a richer stock)

Why it works: Veal and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Stock for White Soup

Ingredients

1 knuckle of veal or part of the neck, thoroughly washed
1 pound lean ham, skin and fat removed, cut into thick slices
or ½ pound Jewish smoked beef, smoked surface and fat removed
or Dutch or hung beef, smoked portions removed
1½ pints cold water (for a lighter stock) or 1 pint (for a richer stock)

Directions

Place the washed veal or neck in a clean soup pot or large iron saucepan.
Layer the thick slices of ham or smoked beef on top.
Pour in 1½ pints of cold water for a lighter stock or 1 pint for a richer stock.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

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.

Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle or neck: Provides collagen and bone that break down into body and richness in the stock.
Lean ham: Adds savoury, meaty flavour to the stock.
Cold water: Forms the liquid that extracts flavour and gelatin from the meat as it simmers.

“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.