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Brown Soup Stock

A beef stock made by browning part of the meat, simmering with bones, vegetables, and seasonings for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Brown Soup Stock

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 ↓

Brown Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Wipe the beef.

  2. Cut the lean meat into 1-inch cubes.

  3. Brown one-third of the meat in a hot frying pan with marrow from a marrow bone.

  4. Combine the remaining two-thirds of the meat with the bone and fat in a soup kettle.

  5. Add cold water to the kettle.

  6. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes.

Simmer the stock

  1. Add the browned meat to the kettle.

  2. Heat gradually to boiling.

  3. Remove any scum that rises to the surface.

  4. Cover the stock.

  5. Cook slowly for 6 hours, keeping below boiling point.

  6. Add the diced vegetables and seasonings.

  7. Cook for an additional 1.5 hours.

Finish and cool

  1. Strain the stock.

  2. Cool it as quickly as possible.

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

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  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

Shin of beef
Lean meat and marrow bone release flavor and gelatin into the long-simmered stock.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens over the long simmer.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and savory depth when cooked slowly in the stock.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy aroma to the simmered stock.

The step that matters

Keep the stock below boiling point. A gentle simmer keeps the liquid clear and prevents fat and proteins from emulsifying into a cloudy stock, while still extracting collagen and flavor slowly.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, thyme, marjoram, parsley, carrot, 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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