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Beef Broth

A clear broth made by simmering beef shank, veal knuckle, and water for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Beef Broth

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 ↓

Beef Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut all the meat into small pieces.

  2. Add 1 pint of water for each pound of meat.

  3. Allow the mixture to stand for 30 to 60 minutes.

Simmer and strain

  1. Simmer for 6 hours or more.

  2. Bring to a boiling point and boil for 45 minutes.

  3. Strain the broth and set aside to cool.

  4. Remove the fat before serving.

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. Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shank bone
Bones release collagen and minerals during long cooking, adding savory flavor and body to the broth.
Veal knuckle or beef neck
Connective tissue breaks down into gelatin during slow simmering, giving the broth a richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Remove the fat before serving. Fat from the meat and bones floats on the broth and can make it greasy. Once chilled, it hardens on the surface, so it lifts off cleanly.

“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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