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A rich broth made from beef or veal bones, meat, vegetables, and aromatics simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Stock

Why it works: Turnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat and bacon or ham into 3-inch pieces.

  2. Break the bones into small pieces.

Make the stock

  1. Rub the butter on the bottom of a large stewpan.

  2. Add ½ pint of water and the broken bones to the stewpan.

  3. Add the meat and all other ingredients.

  4. Cover the stewpan and place it on high heat, stirring occasionally.

  5. When the bottom of the pan is covered with a pale, jelly-like substance, add the remaining water.

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. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Clove + turniptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef or knuckle of veal
Provides meat and collagen that breaks down into body and richness in the stock.
Bones
Release gelatin and minerals during simmering, giving the stock body and a rounded flavor.
Bacon or ham
Adds salty, smoky fat that deepens the savory flavor of the stock.
Onions
Release sugars that brown slightly and add sweetness and aroma to the stock.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, savory flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Adding the remaining water at the right moment. Adding the rest of the water only after a pale, jelly-like layer forms on the pan bottom lets the meat and bones first release their proteins and gelatin, which are skimmed off and then dissolve into the stock as it simmers, improving clarity and body.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, meat, ham, butter, onion, turnip, carrot):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, ham, butter, onion, turnip, carrot. 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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