Name: Refreshing Broth
Ingredients: ½ pound neck of mutton, cut into small pieces; ½ pound fillet of veal, cut into small pieces; 4 quarts water; 1 handful chervil, chopped; 1 handful doucemere, chopped; a little wild chicory, chopped; 2 small lettuces, chopped; salt to taste

Why it works: Chervil and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 396 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Refreshing Broth

Ingredients

½ pound neck of mutton, cut into small pieces
½ pound fillet of veal, cut into small pieces
4 quarts water
1 handful chervil, chopped
1 handful doucemere, chopped
a little wild chicory, chopped
2 small lettuces, chopped
salt to taste

Directions

In a kettle, combine the mutton, veal, and water.
Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
Add the chervil, doucemere, wild chicory, and lettuces.
Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 3 hours.
Strain the broth and season with salt 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.

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.

Chervil + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together396 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Chicory + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together40 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Chervil + chicorytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Mutton + vealtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Veal + lettucetop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together383 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton: Releases flavor and gelatin into the water, giving the broth body and savory depth.
Fillet of veal: Adds delicate meat flavor and gelatin, contributing to a lightly rich broth.
Chervil: Contributes a delicate, fresh herbal aroma that brightens the broth.
Lettuces: Add mild vegetal flavor and softness as they cook into the broth.

The step that matters

Skim off the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting instead of cloudy and greasy.

Swap the chervil

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

Chervilthe original
Capersfits about as well
Tarragonfits less well
Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, veal, chicory, lettuce. 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.

Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Haricot Mutton59 recipes

Mutton Soup56 recipes

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Refreshing Broth