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Beef Soup

A hearty beef soup with vegetables, simmered slowly for many hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Beef Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Crack the bones and extract the marrow, adding it to the soup pot.

  2. Combine the beef, bones, and water in a covered pot and heat gradually.

  3. Let it boil slowly for at least 6 hours, checking occasionally and replenishing with boiling water if needed.

  4. After 7 hours, remove the pot and let it sit covered overnight.

  5. An hour before serving, remove the meat and set aside for another use.

  6. Skim the fat from the stock and return it to the heat, adding a little salt to help remove the scum.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Prepare the vegetables by slicing them small and stewing in just enough water to cover until they break apart.

  2. Cook the cabbage separately in two waters, discarding the first.

  3. Cook one whole carrot until done, then set aside to cool.

Finish the soup

  1. Add the remaining vegetables and their cooking water to the soup.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  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. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 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

Lean beef
Breaks down during long simmering to give the stock its body and meaty flavor.
Beef bones
Release gelatin and marrow during long simmering, adding richness and body to the stock.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a bright, savory tang that balances the rich stock.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and color to the soup.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and soft texture as they stew until they break apart.

The step that matters

Skimming the fat and scum from the stock. Fat and foam that rise during long simmering can make the broth greasy and cloudy. Removing them after chilling, and adding a little salt to help bring up the scum, keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, turnip, corn, celery, tomato):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, corn, celery, tomato. 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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