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Scotch Broth

A hearty beef broth with barley, onions, cabbage, carrots, celery, parsley, pepper, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

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 ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Cover the beef with cold water in a large pot.

  2. Add the barley and onions, then skim the surface when it begins to boil.

  3. After 2 hours, add the chopped vegetables: cabbage, carrots, celery, and parsley.

  4. Continue to simmer for a total of 4 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Skim the fat from the broth before serving and season with pepper and salt to taste.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 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

Beef shank
Releases flavour and gelatin into the broth as it simmers slowly.
Barley
Thickens the broth and adds a chewy texture as its starch softens.
Cabbage
Adds body and mild sweetness as it cooks down into the broth.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the broth.
Celery
Contributes savoury aroma and a subtle vegetal backbone to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface and fat. Foam and fat rise as the broth heats and comes to a boil. Skimming them early keeps the broth clear and stops it tasting greasy. Skim again before serving to remove fat that has collected on top.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, barley, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, pepper. 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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