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Stock for Clear Soup, ' to Clarify

A clarified stock made by simmering aromatics, beef, and an eggshell, then straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Stock for Clear Soup, ' to Clarify

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a clean, dry saucepan, combine the chopped onion or leek, carrot, celery, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, chervil, peppercorns, eggshell, lemon juice, and vinegar.

  2. Stir the mixture with a whisk, then add the finely chopped beef moistened with a little cold water.

Make the stock

  1. Pour in the cold stock and bring to a boil while whisking.

  2. Remove from heat and let it simmer gently for 20 to 30 minutes.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt to taste and strain through a clean cloth.

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. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Marjoram + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together148 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Its proteins bind to impurities and collect them into a raft that clears the stock.
Eggshell
Its proteins help trap fine particles, adding to the clarifying effect.
Cold stock
Forms the liquid base that the clarifying raft is formed in and strained from.
Onion or leek
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth to the stock's flavor.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the stock's flavor.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that helps the proteins coagulate and the stock taste bright.

The step that matters

Bringing the stock to a boil while whisking. Whisking as the stock heats keeps the beef and egg proteins from settling on the bottom and burning. Once the raft forms, the stock must stay gently simmering, not boiling hard, so the raft holds impurities and the broth stays clear.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, celery, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, chervil, lemon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, celery, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, chervil, lemon. 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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