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Clear Gravy Soup

A clear soup made from beef, ham, and vegetables, seasoned with coarse sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Clear Gravy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine beef, water, and ham in a pot.

  2. Simmer slowly until well-cooked, then strain through a napkin to remove meat and vegetable shreds.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil vegetables separately in a portion of the broth for a few hours before serving.

  2. Add the boiled vegetables to the strained soup.

  3. Reheat the soup on the second day, ensuring it is thoroughly hot.

  4. Season with coarse sea salt and add burnt onion for a deeper color if desired.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Solid lean beef
Provides the main meaty flavor and gelatin-rich body as it simmers slowly.
Ham
Adds savory, salty depth to the broth's flavor.
Vegetables
Contribute flavor and aroma to the finished broth once boiled in it.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly and strain through a napkin. Gentle simmering keeps the broth from turning cloudy, since vigorous boiling breaks up fat and proteins into the liquid. Straining through a fine cloth removes meat and vegetable shreds so the broth stays clear.

“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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