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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton and vegetable broth with barley and peas.

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

Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the mutton and all the vegetables except the peas with the water.

  2. Cook slowly for four hours.

  3. Meanwhile, soak the barley in a cup of tepid water.

  4. Strain the broth, pressing the vegetables through a colander.

  5. Let the broth cool and remove the fat.

Finish and serve

  1. Season the broth, bring it to a boil, and skim off any foam.

  2. Add the peas and soaked barley, then simmer steadily for half an hour.

  3. 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. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + barleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Gives the broth its rich meaty flavour and body as it cooks slowly.
Barley
Adds chewy texture and thickens the broth as its starch releases during simmering.
Peas
Add sweetness and soft texture to the finished broth.
Turnips
Contribute mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Remove the fat after cooling. Fat from the long-cooked mutton rises and sets on cooled broth. Lifting it off before reheating keeps the broth clean-tasting and less greasy.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

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