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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton soup with barley, carrots, onion, cabbage, parsley, celery, pepper, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

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 Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Bring the cold water to a boil in a large pot and skim off any foam.

  2. Add the neck of mutton and boil for 30 minutes, skimming the sides of the pot as needed.

Add the vegetables and simmer

  1. Chop the carrots, onion, cabbage, parsley, and celery finely.

  2. Add the chopped vegetables, pepper, and salt to the pot.

  3. Cook the soup for an additional 2 hours.

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

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

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Gives the broth its meaty flavor as it simmers in the water.
Barley
Thickens the broth slightly and adds a chewy texture as it cooks.
Cabbage
Adds body and a mild sweetness to the soup as it cooks down.
Carrots
Add sweetness and color to the broth during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam at the start. Foam and scum that rise while the water first boils can cloud the broth and carry off-flavors, so removing them early keeps the soup clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, mutton, carrot, cabbage, parsley, celery, 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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