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Strong Broth

A hearty veal broth simmered with herbs, onion, carrot, celery, mace, and peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Strong Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the strong broth (or veal and water) in a large pot.

  2. Add coarse sea salt, savory herbs, onion, carrot, celery, mace, and peppercorns.

  3. Simmer for 4 hours or more, skimming off any impurities.

  4. For a quicker version, use ½ lb ham and 4 lbs veal, simmering for nearly 1 hour.

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

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

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Gives the broth its body and rich meaty flavour as it simmers.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and a rounded background flavour.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, savoury flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming off impurities while simmering. Proteins and fats released from the meat rise as foam and scum. Skimming them off keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy or cloudy result.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, onion, carrot, celery):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, onion, carrot, celery. 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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