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Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made with diced mutton, pearl barley, carrots, turnip, onion, and garlic, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into two-inch dice and break the bones.

  2. Pick over and wash the barley, then soak the barley in hot water.

  3. Peel and dice the carrot and turnip.

  4. Peel the onion and combine it with the cloves to make a bouquet.

Make the broth

  1. Put the meat and bones into a saucepan with 3 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil, skimming until clear.

  2. Season the soup with salt and pepper.

  3. Add the barley and vegetables.

  4. Boil slowly for 3 hours or until the barley is soft.

  5. Remove the bones and bouquet.

Serve

  1. Serve the meat, barley, and vegetables in a soup tureen.

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 + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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

Neck of mutton
Supplies the meat and bones that flavour the broth as they simmer.
Pearl barley
Softens as it cooks and thickens the broth with starch, giving body.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and aroma to the broth as it simmers.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and body to the broth as it cooks.
Onion
Contributes savoury depth and aroma to the broth during long simmering.

The step that matters

Skimming the broth as it comes to a boil. Proteins and fats rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Skimming removes them, so the broth stays clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy and greasy.

Swap the onion

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

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

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