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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton neck or knuckle, simmered with vegetables and seasonings, then finished with rice or barley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Parsley and carrot 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 ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Remove excess fat from the meat and bones.

  2. Place the meat, bones, water, and salt in a clean saucepan.

  3. Cover and bring slowly to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  4. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours, skimming as necessary.

  5. Strain the broth through a fine strainer and let it cool.

  6. Once cool, remove the fat from the top with a spoon or kitchen paper.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the broth to the saucepan and add the washed rice or barley.

  2. Cook until the rice is soft, about 20 minutes.

  3. Add the chopped parsley just before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 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 neck or knuckle
Releases flavour and gelatin into the water as it simmers, giving the broth body.
Rice or barley
Softens as it cooks, adding body and a little starch to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum while bringing it to a boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise from the meat. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting; leaving it lets it cloud and turn bitter as it simmers.

Swap the onion

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

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

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