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Mutton Soup

A hearty soup made with a leg of mutton, onions, potato, barley, tomatoes, pepper, salt, flour, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Mutton Soup

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the leg of mutton and reserve the water for the soup.

  2. Add the chopped onions, diced potato, barley, and chopped tomatoes to the water.

  3. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Cook the soup

  1. Boil for one hour, stirring often to prevent the barley from burning.

  2. Before removing from heat, mix the flour with cold water and add it to the soup.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Potato + barleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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

Leg of mutton
Gives the soup its meaty flavour and rich body as it boils.
Barley
Thickens the broth slightly and adds a chewy texture as it cooks.
Potato
Breaks down partly during cooking, adding body and starch to the broth.
Flour
Thickens the soup when stirred in with cold water before serving.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and a fresh, savoury sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Stirring the barley during the hour-long boil. Barley settles and sticks to the bottom of the pot, scorching easily. Regular stirring keeps it suspended and prevents a burnt taste.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, potato, barley, pepper, flour. 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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