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Beef Broth

A hearty beef broth with vegetables, butter, and a baked roll served in a soup tureen.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Beef Broth

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Beef Broth

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Make the stock from beef and veal bones, well skimmed.

  2. Wash and peel the vegetables.

  3. Cut the carrot and turnip into round slices and chop the cabbage into small pieces.

Make the soup

  1. In a stewpan, combine the vegetables with the butter or fat, cover, and cook slowly for about 10 minutes.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and a little grated nutmeg.

  3. Strain the stock over the vegetables and let them simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming occasionally.

Toast and serve

  1. Slice the roll into thin rounds and place the rounds on a baking sheet.

  2. Bake until golden brown in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  3. Place the baked rolls in a soup tureen and moisten with a little stock.

  4. Pour the soup over.

  5. Sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives before serving hot.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 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

Beef and veal bones (in the method)
Give the stock its body and rich savoury flavour as they simmer.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and colour to the broth as it cooks down.
Turnip
Contributes mild sweetness and a soft texture to the vegetables.
Cabbage
Adds bulk, mild sweetness and a tender texture to the soup.
Butter or cooking fat
Carries flavour from the vegetables and softens them gently before the stock is added.
Dinner roll
Soaks up stock and becomes tender, giving the soup substance when toasted and moistened.

The step that matters

Cooking the vegetables slowly in the covered pan. Gentle covered cooking softens the vegetables and draws out their flavour into the fat without browning them, so the broth tastes sweet and clean rather than harsh or scorched.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg. 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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