Name: Mutton Broth
Ingredients: 3 lb neck of mutton; 1 tablespoon pearl barley; 5 quarts water; 1 carrot or turnip

Why it works: Barley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 784 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

3 lb neck of mutton
1 tablespoon pearl barley
5 quarts water
1 carrot or turnip

Directions

Combine the mutton, pearl barley, water, and carrot or turnip in a large pot.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least 3 hours.
Strain the broth through a kitchen strainer before serving.

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.

Barley + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mutton + barleytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together510 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Mutton + carrottop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,878 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton: Gives the broth its main meaty flavor and body as it simmers for hours.
Pearl barley: Releases starch as it cooks, slightly thickening the broth and adding body.