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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, water, celery, rice, salt, and pepper, simmered for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into pieces and remove the fat.

Make the broth

  1. In a pot, add the meat and cold water; simmer for 4 to 5 hours.

  2. Strain the broth into an earthen bowl and remove the grease.

Finish

  1. Add the celery, rice, salt, and pepper to the broth.

  2. Boil until the rice is soft.

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

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

  2. Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

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

  3. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Its collagen and connective tissue break down during long simmering, giving the broth body and flavour.
Rice
Softens as it boils, thickening the broth slightly and adding body to the bowl.
Celery
Adds a vegetal, aromatic note that balances the richness of the meat.

The step that matters

Simmering the meat. Simmering gently rather than boiling keeps the broth clear and lets collagen slowly convert to gelatin, giving body. Too much heat makes it cloudy and greasy.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, rice, 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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