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Scotch Broth

A soup of barley, mutton, carrots, onion, cabbage, parsley, celery, pepper, and 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. In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of cold water to a boil.

  2. Skim the surface, then add ½ cup of barley and 1 neck of mutton.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes, skimming again as needed.

Add the vegetables and finish

  1. Chop 2 carrots, 1 large onion, 1 small head of cabbage, 1 bunch of parsley, and 1 sprig of celery top.

  2. Add the chopped vegetables, pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste.

  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

Barley
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during long simmering, giving body to the soup.
Neck of mutton
Releases collagen and fat into the broth, adding richness and savory depth over long cooking.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and mild sweetness as it softens during the long simmer.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and color to the broth as they soften.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface after boiling begins. Foam and fat rise to the surface as the meat and bones heat. Skimming removes impurities that would otherwise cloud the broth and taste greasy, leaving a clearer, cleaner soup.

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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