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Beef Stock

A savory stock made by simmering beef, mutton, veal, celery, onion, turnip, peppercorns, and salt in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Beef Stock

Why it works: Celery and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,418 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Beef Stock

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the beef, shin of beef, neck of mutton, and knuckle of veal in a large pot with 2 quarts of cold water.

  2. Bring to a boil quickly, then skim off any foam.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

  4. Add celery, peppercorns, onion, turnip, and salt, then simmer for an additional hour.

  5. Strain the stock before using.

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. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 water during long simmering, giving the stock body.
Shin of beef
Connective tissue breaks down slowly, adding gelatin that gives the stock body and richness.
Neck of mutton
Contributes meat and connective tissue, adding savoury depth and body to the stock.
Knuckle of veal
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the stock a smooth, full mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Skim off the foam after bringing to a boil. Foam carries impurities from the meat that can make the stock cloudy and taste muddy, so removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mutton, veal, onion, turnip):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, veal, onion, turnip. 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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