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Mutton Soup

A simple mutton soup with ginger, onions, peppercorns, and salt, simmered for 2–3 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Mutton Soup

Why it works: Onion and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,595 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into pieces and wash well.

  2. Place the mutton in a pot with the pounded ginger, sliced onions, peppercorns, and salt.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil over low heat for 2 to 3 hours.

  2. Skim off any scum that forms and serve hot.

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. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 recipes

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

  3. Mutton + gingertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together394 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the meat and rich fat that flavour the broth during long simmering.
Green ginger
Adds a sharp, aromatic warmth that balances the richness of the mutton.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and savoury depth to the broth as they soften.

The step that matters

Skim off the scum. Scum rising during boiling is made of coagulated proteins and impurities. Removing it keeps the broth clear and prevents off flavours from spreading back into the soup.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Pepperfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion. 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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