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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made by simmering mutton, water, salt, and optional pearl barley for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Mutton and barley work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into three or four pieces and wash in cold water.

  2. Place the mutton in a soup kettle and cover with cold water.

  3. Bring to a boil and skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Simmer and finish

  1. Cover and simmer slowly for 5 hours.

  2. Remove the meat and bones, then skim off the fat.

  3. Season the broth with coarse sea salt to taste.

  4. If using pearl barley, add 1 tablespoon and cook for an additional 2 hours.

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. Mutton + barleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Provides the meat and bones that flavour the broth as they simmer slowly.
Pearl barley
Optional grain that thickens the broth slightly and adds body as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skimming impurities after the boil. Impurities rise to the surface as the water heats. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or scummy.

“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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