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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton broth with barley, carrots, turnip, celery, and seasonings, thickened with butter and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Remove fat and bone from the mutton and cut the meat into 1‑inch pieces.

  2. Soak the meat in 2 quarts of cold water for 1 hour, then bring to a boil and skim.

Make the broth

  1. Drain the soaked barley and add it to the broth.

  2. Cook for 2 hours at a low temperature.

  3. Soak the bones in the remaining quart of water for 1 hour, then heat slowly and boil for 2 hours.

  4. Skim, strain, and add the liquid to the broth.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the chopped vegetables and cook until soft.

  2. Thicken with butter and flour cooked together.

  3. Add seasoning and chopped parsley just before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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
Provides the meat and bones that give the broth its rich, savory body.
Pearl barley or rice
Swells during simmering and adds body and thickness to the broth.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and color, and softens into the broth as it cooks.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and soft, tender texture to the broth.
Flour
Thickens the broth when cooked with butter into a roux.
Butter
Adds richness and, cooked with flour, helps thicken the broth smoothly.

The step that matters

Thicken with butter and flour cooked together. Flour must be cooked with the butter first so its starch swells smoothly into the broth; adding raw flour can leave lumps and a pasty taste.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, carrot, turnip, celery, pepper, butter. 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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