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 ↓
Consomme, or Jelly Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the veal into pieces and wash it well.
Place a small amount of water at the bottom of a stock pot and add the veal with the bones.
Add the carrots, onions, and ham.
Make the stock
Stir over moderate heat, shaking often to prevent sticking.
When the mixture thickens and resembles a glaze, add hot water to cover the meat by about 4 inches.
Once it begins to boil, skim the surface and add the washed parsley.
Let it boil gently, skimming as necessary.
When the meat is tender and falls from the bone, strain the consommé through a silk sieve into a pan.
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.
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Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Veal + chickentop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,243 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal
- Provides the meat and bones that release gelatin and flavour into the stock.
- Fowl
- Adds deep poultry flavour and extra body to the broth as it simmers.
- Carrots
- Contribute gentle sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
- Onions
- Add savoury depth and a background sweetness as they cook down.
- Lean ham
- Adds salty, smoky savour that rounds out the broth.
The step that matters
Stirring the mixture over moderate heat until it forms a glaze. Browning and sticking are the risk here; stirring and shaking prevent scorching at the pot base, which would add bitter flavour and cloud the stock.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, chicken, carrot, onion, ham):
- Celeryfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, chicken, carrot, onion, ham. 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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