Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
White Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Combine veal, poultry trimmings, and ham in a large pot.
Cover with water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for several hours until flavors meld.
Strain the stock and discard solids.
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.
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Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veal knuckle
- Releases gelatin and collagen during long simmering, giving the stock body and a rich mouthfeel.
- Poultry trimmings
- Add extra collagen and savory flavor, deepening the stock's overall body.
- Ham
- Contributes savory, salty depth that rounds out the flavor of the stock.
The step that matters
Simmer gently rather than boil. A rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and clouds the stock, while a gentle simmer keeps it clear and lets collagen and flavor extract slowly.
“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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