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Veal Stock

A clear stock made by simmering veal, bacon, vegetables, herbs, and spices in water or stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Veal Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a stewpan, combine the chopped bacon and veal with 1 pint of water or beef stock, then simmer for 30 minutes.

  2. Add 2 quarts of stock, onion, carrot, bouquet of herbs, celery, bruised peppers, nutmeg, and salt, then boil gently for 2 hours, skimming off any scum.

Strain and chill

  1. Strain the mixture into an earthen crock.

  2. Let it cool, then remove the fat.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal neck
Releases gelatin and flavor into the liquid as it simmers, giving the stock body.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savory fat that carries flavor into the stock.
Onion
Contributes sweet, savory aromatic flavor as it cooks down in the liquid.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the stock's flavor.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savory background flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming off any scum during the gentle boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise to the surface. Removing it keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting. A hard boil would emulsify fat and cloud the liquid, so the stock should only simmer gently.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

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