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Rich Strong Stock

A hearty stock made from beef, veal, ham, poultry trimmings, vegetables, herbs, and spices, simmered slowly for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 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 ↓

Rich Strong Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Melt the butter in a clean stewpan.

  2. Add the ham, sliced thin and trimmed of fat.

  3. Cut the beef and veal into 3-inch pieces.

  4. Add the beef and veal pieces to the pan, stirring frequently until browned.

  5. Add the beef and veal bones and poultry trimmings.

Simmer

  1. Pour in the cold water.

  2. Skim the surface.

  3. Occasionally add cold water to keep it from boiling until clear.

  4. Add all other ingredients.

  5. Simmer very slowly for 5 hours without a brisk boil.

Strain and rest

  1. Strain through a fine sieve or cloth.

  2. The stock will be ready for use the next day.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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
Releases gelatin and savory flavour as it simmers, giving the stock body.
Knuckle of veal
Its bones and connective tissue add gelatin, giving the stock a fuller mouthfeel.
Lean ham
Adds savory, cured depth to the broth.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they cook down.

The step that matters

Simmer very slowly without a brisk boil. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and clouds the liquid, while gentle simmering keeps the stock clear and lets collagen slowly release gelatin.

Swap the turnip

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

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Turnipthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, ham, butter, onion, 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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