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Very Good Stock

A rich stock made from beef or veal, water, vegetables, peppercorns, and bouquet garni, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,873 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Very Good Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces, break up the bones, and remove the marrow. Discard the skin and gristle.

  2. In a clean saucepan, combine the water, meat, bones, and vegetables.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil gradually, then skim off any foam.

  2. Add the peppercorns and salt, and let it boil steadily for 5 hours, skimming occasionally.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the stock through a kitchen cloth and let it cool overnight.

  2. Remove the fat from the surface before using.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin beef
Breaks down into gelatin and rich flavour as the stock simmers for hours.
Bones (in the method)
Release gelatin and body into the liquid, giving the stock depth and a silky mouthfeel.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury aroma to the base as they cook slowly in the liquid.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.

The step that matters

Bringing to a boil gradually and skimming foam. Rapid heating and neglected foam can cloud the stock and push impurities into it. Gentle heating and skimming keep the liquid clear and clean-tasting for the long simmer.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot. 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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