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Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made from mutton, water, onions, celery, carrots, turnips, parsley, pearl barley, salt, sugar, and pepper.

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

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the mutton and water.

  2. Add the onions, celery, carrots, turnips, parsley, pearl barley, salt, sugar, and pepper.

  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours.

  4. Strain the broth and let it cool to remove the grease.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the meat from the bones, cut it into filbert‑sized pieces, and return it to the strained stock along with the vegetables and barley.

  2. Bring to a boil again and serve.

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. Carrot + turniptop 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. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 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

Mutton
Gives the broth its rich meaty flavor and body as it simmers.
Pearl barley
Releases starch as it cooks, thickening the broth and adding a soft, chewy texture.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth to the broth as they soften in the simmer.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and color while holding their shape in the broth.
Turnips
Add a mild, slightly peppery sweetness and tender body to the broth.

The step that matters

Let the broth cool before returning the meat. Chilling the strained stock lets fat rise and solidify so it can be skimmed off, leaving a cleaner, less greasy broth.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Almondthe original

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