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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from diced mutton, pearl barley, turnip, onion, cloves, salt, pepper, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Barley and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 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. Place the diced mutton in a saucepan with 3 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil, skimming until clear.

  3. Wash the barley and soak it in hot water.

  4. Peel the turnip and cut it into half-inch dice.

  5. Peel the onion and stick it with the cloves to make a bouquet garni.

Make the broth

  1. Once the soup is clear, season with 1 tablespoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper.

  2. Add the barley and vegetables, and simmer for 3 hours or until the barley is soft.

  3. Remove the bones and bouquet garni, then 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. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,252 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
Provides the meat and bones that give the broth its body and rich flavor.
Pearl barley
Softens during long simmering, thickening the broth and adding body.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and soft texture as it cooks down into the broth.
Onion
Contributes savory aroma and sweetness to the broth, with cloves as a bouquet garni.

The step that matters

Skimming the broth as it comes to a boil. Skimming removes foam and coagulated proteins that would otherwise cloud the broth and muddy its flavor. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil also helps it stay clear.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, turnip, onion, 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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