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Bouillon

A clear beef and veal stock simmered with carrots, onions, leeks, turnips, celery, barley, and tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Bouillon

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 ↓

Bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stock pot, combine the veal, beef, and water.

  2. Simmer gently and skim off any scum that rises.

  3. Once the scum ceases to appear, add salt, carrots, onions, leeks, turnips, and celery.

  4. Continue to simmer gently for four hours.

  5. Strain the broth and serve.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Leek + barleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 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

Shin of beef
Releases gelatin and flavor into the broth during long, gentle simmering.
Knuckle of veal
Adds gelatin and body, giving the broth a fuller texture.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aroma as they soften in the broth.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma as they cook down in the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise early in simmering. Removing it while the broth is still forming keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, leek, turnip, celery, barley. 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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