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A stock made from veal or beef knuckle, bacon, butter, onions, turnip, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, mace, savory herbs, and water.

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

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 ↓

Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat and bacon into 3‑inch pieces and break the bones into small pieces.

  2. Rub the butter on the bottom of a stewpan and add ½ pint of water.

Brown and extract

  1. Add the broken bones, then the meat and bacon.

  2. Cover the stewpan and place it on a sharp fire, stirring occasionally.

  3. Cook until the bottom of the pan is covered with a pale, jelly‑like substance.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Turnip + carrottop 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. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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

Veal knuckle or beef shin
Provides the meat and connective tissue that release gelatin and body into the stock.
Bones (in the method)
Release gelatin and minerals during long cooking, giving the stock body and richness.
Lean bacon or ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and aroma to the stock.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they cook down.

The step that matters

Cooking until the pan bottom shows a jelly-like layer. Over a sharp fire, the meat and bones can scorch before their juices and gelatin are released. Stirring and keeping the lid on help the pale layer form without burning, which would give the stock a bitter, dark taste.

Swap the clove

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

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

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