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Soup Stock

A stock made from beef, veal, bones, onion, celery, and water simmered for at least two hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Soup Stock

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine beef, veal, bones, onion, celery, and cold water in a large pot.

  2. Cover the pot tightly and place it on the stove away from direct heat.

  3. Allow to simmer for at least 2 hours without boiling.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 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

Beef
Provides rich meaty flavor and gelatin-forming collagen as it simmers, giving body to the stock.
Veal
Adds gentle body and a delicate savory flavor to the stock.
Bones
Release collagen and minerals into the water, giving the stock depth and a silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Keep the stock below a boil. Vigorous boiling emulsifies fat and cloudies the liquid, and can make the stock greasy and murky. A gentle simmer keeps it clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Pepperfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, onion. 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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