Name: Mutton Broth
Ingredients: liquor from boiled mutton leg; shank of mutton; rice; parsley

Why it works: Rice and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,762 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

liquor from boiled mutton leg
shank of mutton
rice
parsley

Directions

Take the liquor from the boiled mutton leg.
Add the cold shank of mutton to the liquor.
Thicken the broth with rice.
Season with 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.

Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,762 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,019 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + parsleytop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,915 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).