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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup made with mutton broth, barley, onion, parsley, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Remove the fat from the top of the mutton broth.

  2. Add the chopped onion to the broth and boil for 30 minutes.

  3. Strain the broth.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the soaked barley and cook for 2 hours.

  2. Stir in the chopped parsley.

  3. When the barley is very soft and the broth has reduced by half, pour out.

  4. Serve, seasoning with pepper to taste.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Barley + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together630 recipes

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

  4. Onion + barleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Barley
Swells and softens during long simmering, thickening the broth and giving it body.
Mutton broth
Forms the liquid base and carries the savory flavor of the whole soup.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Cooking the barley until very soft while reducing the broth. Barley must cook long enough to soften fully and release starch, which thickens the broth. Stopping too early leaves it firm, while overcooking can make the soup pasty. Reduction concentrates the flavor.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, parsley, 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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