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White Broth

A clear veal stock made by simmering veal knuckles, bones, giblets, and vegetables in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

White Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the veal knuckles, bones, and giblets in a stockpot.

  2. Add 4-5 quarts of water and a little salt.

  3. Heat the pot until it begins to boil, skimming off any foam.

  4. Once boiling, reduce heat and cover the pot partially, allowing it to simmer.

  5. After 30 minutes, add the carrot, turnip, celery, leeks, and parsley.

  6. Continue simmering until the veal is cooked through.

  7. Strain the broth through a damp cloth and let it settle.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 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

Veal knuckles and bones
Release gelatin and collagen into the water, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Giblets
Add extra savoury, meaty flavour to the stock.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Leeks
Add mild onion-like aroma and savoury depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam as the pot comes to a boil. Foam is coagulated protein and impurities. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting. Letting it boil hard instead of simmering gently would emulsify fat and cloud the liquid.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, chicken, carrot, turnip, celery, leek):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, chicken, carrot, turnip, celery, leek. 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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