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Bouillon

A clear beef broth made by simmering beef, vegetables, and seasonings, clarified with egg white and crushed shell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Bouillon

Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Put the beef and other ingredients into a soup kettle and cover the kettle.

  2. Bring the contents to a boil.

  3. Reduce heat to a steady simmer for 2 hours.

  4. Add carrot, thyme, onion, parsley, and celery.

  5. Cover again, leaving the top slightly open, and boil for another 2½ hours.

  6. Taste the broth and boil longer if it is not strong enough.

  7. Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a bowl.

Cool and skim

  1. Let the broth cool overnight.

  2. Remove any grease from the surface.

  3. If not clarifying, carefully pour off the upper portion without disturbing the sediment.

Clarify and finish

  1. Add sherry, salt, celery salt, and cayenne to the broth.

  2. Mix in the unbeaten egg white and crushed shell.

  3. Heat until boiling for 10 minutes.

  4. Let it settle for 3-4 minutes.

  5. Pour through a jelly bag.

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.

  1. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Releases flavour and gelatin into the broth during the long simmer, giving body and savoury depth.
Egg white
Its proteins coagulate as the broth heats, trapping fine particles so they can be strained out for a clear result.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savoury depth as it cooks slowly in the broth.
Carrot
Contributes subtle sweetness and aroma to the broth during simmering.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the finished broth.

The step that matters

Heat the egg white and shell until boiling, then let it settle. Egg white proteins coagulate as they heat and bind fine sediment. Letting the broth settle afterwards, rather than stirring, lets that solid mass collect so the clear liquid can be poured off through the jelly bag.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, horse, carrot, thyme, parsley, celery, sherry):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, horse, carrot, thyme, parsley, celery, sherry. 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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