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 ↓
Consomm^ with Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mutton
Wipe the mutton with a damp cloth.
Cut off any dried outer skin.
Dredge the meat with flour.
Pour 1 quart of cold water over the meat.
Soak for a few hours.
Make the broth
Simmer covered for several hours.
Strain the broth.
Cover the bones and meat with cold water.
Cook for another hour.
Strain again.
Combine with the first quantity of broth.
Discard the bones and meat.
Add salt to taste.
Add the onion, carrot, and turnip.
Cook until the vegetables are tender.
Remove the vegetables for salad.
Let the broth cool to take off the fat.
Finish the consommé
Take 1 pint of the broth.
Add the rice.
Cook gently until the rice is tender.
Add minced parsley just before serving if desired.
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.
-
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,842 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton shank
- Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as it simmers for hours.
- Flour
- Dredging the meat helps thicken the broth slightly and aids browning.
- Rice
- Softens as it cooks, adding starch and bulk to the finished consommé.
- Onion, carrot, and turnip
- Release sweetness and aromatic flavour into the broth as they cook.
The step that matters
Let the broth cool to take off the fat. Fat floats on hot broth and makes it greasy and cloudy; chilling lets it solidify on the surface so it can be lifted off cleanly.
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, onion, carrot, turnip, rice):
- Turmericfits about as well
- Celeryfits about as well
- Cuminfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, onion, carrot, turnip, 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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Rice Fritters84 recipes
Haricot Mutton59 recipes