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Scotch Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made with mutton neck, barley, carrots, turnips, onions, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Scotch Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Soak the neck of mutton in water for 1 hour.

  2. Cut off the scrag and place the mutton in a stewpan with 3 quarts of water.

  3. Bring to a boil, skim the surface, and then simmer for 1.5 hours.

  4. Remove most of the fat from the mutton and skim the broth as it boils, then every 10 minutes.

Make the broth

  1. Add the carrots, turnips, and onions to the broth.

  2. Stir in the rinsed barley and add salt to taste.

  3. Let everything stew together for 3 hours.

  4. About 30 minutes before serving, add chopped parsley and 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.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck mutton
Provides rich flavor and gelatin from bone and connective tissue as it simmers.
Scotch barley
Thickens the broth through its starch and adds a chewy texture.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the broth as they soften during stewing.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and soft texture as they cook down in the broth.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma to the broth as they soften.

The step that matters

Skimming the broth. Foam and fat rise to the surface as the broth heats. Removing them regularly keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy result.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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