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Gilt-edged Bouillon

A clear beef bouillon made by simmering beef, tomatoes, spices, and water for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Gilt-edged Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Start the broth

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

  2. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, red pepper, cloves, allspice, salt, garlic (if using), and celery seed.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil and maintain a rolling boil throughout the cooking process.

Simmer and strain

  1. Simmer for several hours until the bouillon is concentrated.

  2. Strain through a fine strainer to remove solids, but do not clear it further to retain flavor and nutrients.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main meaty flavor and body as its juices and collagen dissolve into the water.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a savory, slightly sweet background flavor to the broth.
Bay leaf
Adds a subtle herbal aroma that rounds out the spiced flavor.
Celery seed
Contributes a warm, savory aroma that complements the beef.

The step that matters

Keeping the boil under control while cooking. The record calls for a rolling boil, but vigorous boiling agitates fat and proteins into the liquid, which makes the broth cloudy and greasy. Simmering gently for hours keeps the bouillon clearer and the flavors more even as it concentrates.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, tomato, pepper, allspice, garlic, celery):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, pepper, allspice, garlic, 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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