Name: Mutton Broth
Ingredients: 3 pounds scrag of mutton; 2 quarts cold water; 1 onion, chopped; 2 turnips, chopped; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; a few sweet herbs (such as thyme or parsley); 2 tablespoons pearl barley

Why it works: Turnip and barley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Place the mutton in a large pot with the cold water.
Add the chopped onion, turnips, black pepper, coarse sea salt, sweet herbs, and pearl barley.
Skim the surface to remove impurities.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 4 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.

Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together629 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,352 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Thyme + barleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton: Supplies the meat and bones that give the broth its rich flavour and body.
Pearl barley: Releases starch as it cooks, slightly thickening the broth and adding body.
Turnips: Contribute mild sweetness and aroma as they soften in the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Skim the surface. Foam and impurities rise as the broth heats. Removing them keeps the liquid clear and clean-tasting before the long simmer.

Swap the onion

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

Leekfits better
Carrotfits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, turnip, pepper, thyme, barley. 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.