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Bone Soup

A hearty soup made from bones, vegetables, herbs, and a starch, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Bone Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the bones

  1. Break the bones into small pieces.

  2. Fry them in hot fat until well browned.

Make the broth

  1. Add the water and 1 teaspoon of salt.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Skim well.

  4. Add the prepared vegetables (cut into thick slices), herbs, peppercorns, and clove.

  5. Cook gently for about 5 hours.

  6. Skim occasionally.

  7. Strain the soup.

  8. Return it to the saucepan.

  9. Season to taste.

Thicken and serve

  1. When the soup boils, sprinkle in the sago (or other farinaceous substance).

  2. Simmer for about 10 minutes longer to cook the sago.

  3. Serve 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.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 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

Bones
Release gelatin and deep meaty flavour into the broth during long cooking.
Sago, crushed tapioca, or semolina
Thickens the soup as its starch swells and cooks in the simmering liquid.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as it simmers.
Carrot
Contributes subtle sweetness and body to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Skim well after bringing to a boil. Removing the grey foam that rises early keeps the broth clear and free of off, bitter flavours. Skimming again during the long simmer removes fat and impurities that would otherwise cloud the soup.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, celery, parsley, thyme, clove, semolina):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, celery, parsley, thyme, clove, semolina. 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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