Name: Broth
Ingredients: water; meat (beef and knuckle of veal); coarse sea salt; vegetables (various)

Why it works: Beef and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Broth

Ingredients

water
meat (beef and knuckle of veal)
coarse sea salt
vegetables (various)

Directions

Place water, meat, and salt in a pot.
Set the pot on a moderate fire to allow scum to rise gradually.
Once boiling, move the pot to the side of the fire to minimize surface exposure.
Introduce the knuckle of veal with the beef, monitoring it closely.
Add the fowl and vegetables in stages, starting with those that take longest to cook.
Cook the stock-pot for 5 to 6 hours, ensuring all ingredients are done at the same time.

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.

Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + vealtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,890 recipes

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