Skip to main content
Soup

Neck of Mutton Soup

A hearty soup made with pearl barley, mutton neck, carrots, turnips, onions, and optional leek, simmered for two hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Neck of Mutton Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Put the pearl barley and cold water into a pot and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the neck of mutton and boil gently for 1 hour, skimming occasionally.

Add the vegetables and finish

  1. Add the grated carrot, turnips, and onions (or leek) and boil for another hour.

  2. If needed, add hot water to maintain the liquid level.

  3. Season with salt and serve the broth in a tureen, with the meat on a separate dish.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Barley + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 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

Pearl barley
Releases starch as it simmers, thickening the broth and giving it body.
Neck of mutton
Releases meat flavour and gelatin into the broth during the long simmer.
Turnips
Soften during simmering and add mild sweetness and body to the soup.
Carrot
Softens during simmering and adds gentle sweetness and colour to the broth.
Onions
Break down during simmering, adding savoury depth and sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Boil gently and skim the mutton. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and emulsifies fat into it, while gentle simmering with regular skimming keeps the broth clear and lighter.

“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.

You might also like

Indian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and SpinachIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and Spinach448 recipesClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd SoupClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd Soup65 recipesMock Bisque SoupMock Bisque Soup51 recipesCream of Asparagus SoupCream of Asparagus Soup42 recipes