Name: Mutton Broth
Ingredients: 1 pound lean mutton or lamb; 1 quart unsalted water; 1 tablespoon rice; 4 tablespoons milk; cream crackers

Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

Boil the mutton or lamb in the unsalted water until very tender.
Remove the meat and strain the water.
Soak the rice in a little warm water, then add it to the strained broth.
Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often and seasoning to taste.

Finish and serve

Add the milk, simmer again, and serve hot with cream crackers.

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.

Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,019 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mutton + milktop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together814 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Mutton + creamtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together550 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton or lamb: Releases flavour and gelatin into the water as it simmers, giving the broth body and savour.
Rice: Releases starch as it cooks, slightly thickening the broth and giving it a softer texture.
Milk: Adds richness and a mild sweetness, softening the broth's savoury edge.

“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.