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Beef Stock

A clear stock made by simmering beef and vegetables 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: Leek and turnip 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 ↓

Beef Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the lean beef into pieces and place it in a pot.

  2. Add enough water to cover the beef and bring it to a boil.

  3. Skim the surface well while boiling.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the parsley, thyme, carrots, leeks, onions, turnips, celery, and salt.

  2. Let the mixture stew until tender.

  3. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into broad shallow pans, not exceeding four quarts each.

  4. Allow the fat to remain on top to preserve the stock.

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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main meat flavor and body that the stock is built on.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aromatic flavor to the stock.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and savory depth as they soften during stewing.
Leeks
Add mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.
Celery
Adds fresh, vegetal aroma that rounds out the stock's flavor.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface while boiling. Proteins and fats released from the beef rise and coagulate as foam on the surface. Removing them early keeps the stock clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy broth.

Swap the onion

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

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

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