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Knuckle of Veal, or Shin or Leg of Beef, Soup

A hearty soup made with a knuckle of veal, bacon, carrots, turnips, celery, onions, peppercorns, herbs, and cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Knuckle of Veal, or Shin or Leg of Beef, Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Lay the sliced bacon at the bottom of a soup kettle or deep stew pan.

  2. Place the knuckle of veal on top, chopping the bone in two or three places.

  3. Add the chopped carrots, turnips, celery, onions, peppercorns, and herbs.

  4. Cover the meat with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat.

  5. Skim the surface.

Simmer and strain

  1. Reduce the heat and let it simmer gently for about 4 hours until tender.

  2. Remove the bacon and veal.

  3. Strain the soup.

  4. Cool the soup before storing.

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.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 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

Veal knuckle
Releases gelatin and savory meat flavor into the broth as it simmers slowly.
Bacon
Adds smoky, salty fat that seasons the broth as it cooks.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and deep savory flavor to the broth as they cook down.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and body to the broth.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic, vegetal flavor that builds the broth's base.

The step that matters

Skim the surface after boiling. Bringing the water to a boil releases foam and impurities that rise to the surface. Skimming them off keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting before the long, gentle simmer.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, turnip, celery, clove, lemon, thyme):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, turnip, celery, clove, lemon, thyme. 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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