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Vegetable Stock

A clear liquid made by simmering beans, peas, vegetables, herbs, and spices in water.

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

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 ↓

Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. In a large pot, combine water, haricot beans, split peas, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, herbs, pepper, salt, cloves, and mace.

  2. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface.

Strain and store

  1. Strain the stock through a fine sieve and discard the solids.

  2. Let the stock cool and store it, pouring off any sediment 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.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

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

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

  5. Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Haricot beans
Break down during simmering to add body and thicken the stock.
Split peas
Dissolve as they cook, adding body and a subtle earthy thickness to the stock.
Onion
Releases sweetness and savory flavor into the liquid as it simmers.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Celery
Contributes savory, aromatic flavor to the base of the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam. Foam is coagulated proteins and impurities released as the liquid heats. Skimming it early keeps the stock clear and prevents off flavors from returning into the liquid.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, pepper, clove):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, pepper, clove. 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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