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First Stock for Clear Soup

A clear stock made from beef and veal bones simmered with vegetables, herbs, and peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

First Stock for Clear Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces, break up the bone, and remove the marrow.

  2. Put the bones and meat into a stock pot with the cold water and add a little salt.

  3. Gently simmer the contents for 30 minutes.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the vegetables, herbs, and peppercorns.

  2. Simmer for 5 hours.

  3. Strain into a clean pan and let cool.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Provides the main flavour and gelatin-rich body as it simmers slowly.
Cold water
Extracts flavour and collagen from the bones and meat as it heats gradually.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the stock's background flavour.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma as it softens and releases flavour.
Celery
Contributes aromatic flavour to the broth during the long simmer.
Peppercorns
Add a warm, pungent aroma that infuses the stock.

The step that matters

Keep the stock at a gentle simmer. A hard boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and makes the stock cloudy, while a gentle simmer keeps it clear. Skimming and a slow simmer help the broth stay clean and clear.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, celery, leek, parsley, thyme, marjoram. 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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