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Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made by simmering mutton, onion, turnips, barley, and herbs for four hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

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

  1. Place the mutton in a large pot with cold water.

  2. Add the onion, turnips, pepper, salt, sweet herbs, and pearl barley.

  3. Skim the surface well.

  4. Boil for four 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. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + barleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Gives the broth its meaty flavour, and its collagen softens into gelatin that adds body.
Pearl barley
Releases starch as it simmers, slightly thickening the broth and adding a soft texture.
Turnips
Contribute a mild, slightly sweet, earthy flavour to the broth.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aromatic flavour as it simmers in the broth.
Sweet herbs
Add gentle aroma that perfumes the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skim the surface well. Skimming removes the foam of coagulated proteins and loose fat that rise during boiling. Removing them keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting instead of greasy or cloudy.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

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