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Consomme

A clear beef consommé made by simmering beef, water, vegetables, and herbs for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Consomme

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

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

  2. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil over 1 hour. Once boiling, skim off any scum that rises.

Simmer

  1. After 1 hour, add the vegetables and herbs.

  2. Boil gently for about 10 hours, ensuring the soup never stops boiling. Do not add water once cooking has started.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Celery + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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 cooking, giving body and richness.
Shin of veal or old hen
Adds additional gelatin and savory depth to the broth for a fuller body.
Leeks
Contribute mild sweetness and aroma to the broth as they cook slowly.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and color to the clear broth during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum as it rises. Impurities that rise during the first boil can cloud the broth and add off flavors. Removing them early keeps the consommé clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the allspice

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, celery, veal, pepper, leek. 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 →

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