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Pot-au-feu, or Beef Broth

A clear beef broth made by simmering beef, bone, vegetables, and salt for 2–3 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Pot-au-feu, or Beef Broth

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. Place the beef and bone in a large pot.

  2. Add the water and bring to a boil.

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

  4. Add the salt, carrot, onion (with cloves stuck in it), leeks, celery, turnip, and parsnip.

  5. Reduce heat and simmer for 2–3 hours until the meat is tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the broth and serve hot.

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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together590 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Leek + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and becomes tender during the long simmer.
Bone
Adds body and savoury depth to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it cooks slowly in the broth.
Leeks
Add mild sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam. Foam that rises at the start carries impurities and proteins from the meat. Skimming it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or greasy.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, leek, celery, turnip, parsnip. 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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