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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton soup with vegetables, barley, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into small pieces and place in a large stewpot with the cold water.

  2. Add the minced vegetables, pearl barley, salt, and pepper.

  3. Tie the bones in a piece of thin cloth and add them to the pot.

Simmer and finish

  1. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, and then reduce to a simmer for three hours.

  2. After three hours, thicken the broth with flour and stir in the minced parsley.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 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

Mutton
Supplies meat and rich flavour as it simmers slowly into the broth.
Pearl barley
Releases starch during simmering, adding body and a soft, thick texture to the broth.
Flour
Thickens the broth when stirred in, giving it a fuller body.
Onion
Adds aroma and savoury sweetness to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after boiling. Foam that forms as the broth first boils contains coagulated proteins and impurities. Skimming it keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting before the long simmer.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, celery, barley, pepper, turnip, carrot, parsley. 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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