Skip to main content
Soup

Consommé

A clear beef and veal broth made by simmering meat, water, salt, pepper, and vegetables for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Consommé

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large soup kettle, combine the meat, water, salt, and pepper.

  2. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil over low heat for 1 hour.

  3. Increase the heat to bring it to a good boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  4. After another hour, add the vegetables, cloves, allspice, tomatoes or sorrel, celery, and parsley.

  5. Boil gently but continuously for about 10 hours, ensuring the soup does not stop boiling.

  6. Do not add water once the soup has started cooking.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Leek + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Thin beef
Provides the main meat flavor and gelatin-rich body as it simmers for hours.
Shin of veal
Adds gelatin from its bones and connective tissue, giving the broth body and a clear, rich mouthfeel.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth to the long-simmered broth.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like aroma and savory background flavor.
Onions
Build savory depth and aroma as they cook down in the broth.
Celery
Adds fresh, savory aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming scum once the heat is raised to a good boil. Rising scum is coagulated protein and impurities; removing it keeps the consommé clear. Letting it boil back into the liquid makes the broth cloudy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, pepper, carrot, leek, clove, allspice):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, pepper, carrot, leek, clove, allspice. 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.

More consommé recipes

Chicken 21Veal 18Soup 15Vegetable 11Rice 8Custard 7 See all 50 →

You might also like

Cream of CeleryCream of Celery37 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque11 recipesIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and SpinachIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and Spinach448 recipesClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd SoupClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd Soup65 recipes