Why it works: Barley and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Barley Broth
Ingredients
Directions
In a large pot, combine mutton, barley, turnips, onions or leeks, and enough water to cover the ingredients.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the mutton is tender and the barley is cooked.
Serve hot, ensuring the broth is not thickened other than by the barley.
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.
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Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together629 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Barley + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,166 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Mutton + barleytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together510 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,531 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Barley
- Starch that softens during simmering and thickens the broth slightly as it cooks.
- Mutton
- Provides meaty flavour and richness to the broth as it simmers.
- Turnips
- Add mild sweetness and body to the broth as they soften during simmering.
- Onions or leeks
- Build aromatic savoury depth in the broth as they cook down.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until the mutton is tender. A rolling boil toughens meat proteins and can break up the barley, so a gentle simmer lets the mutton become tender and the barley cook through without clouding the broth.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, barley, turnip):
- Leekfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, turnip. 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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