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Beef Consommé

A clear beef broth made by simmering beef, water, vegetables, and aromatics for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Beef Consommé

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the broth

  1. Combine beef and water in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil over high heat.

  3. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.

  4. Add onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf, and peppercorns.

  5. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 4‑6 hours, until the beef is tender.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, discarding solids.

  2. Season with salt to taste before serving.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 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

Beef
Supplies the meat flavor and gelatin that give the broth body as it simmers.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma to the broth as it cooks.
Carrots
Contribute gentle sweetness and color to the finished broth.
Celery
Adds aromatic depth to the broth during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam. Foam carries denatured proteins and impurities that cloud the broth if left in. Skimming as it rises keeps the consommé clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, celery. 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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