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Greek Broth

A hearty mutton and split pea soup with ham, onion, carrot, parsley, and thyme.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Greek Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Remove the bones from the mutton.

  2. In a large pot, combine the mutton, bones, water, split peas, chopped ham, onion, carrot, parsley, and thyme.

  3. Cook for 3 hours.

Finish

  1. Remove the bones and cut up the meat.

  2. Press the remaining mixture through a sieve.

  3. Season to taste and return the meat to the broth.

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.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the meat and rich, savory flavor of the broth as it simmers.
Split peas
Break down during long simmering, thickening the broth and giving it body.
Ham
Adds salty, smoky depth that seasons the broth as it cooks.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it softens in the simmering liquid.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and color to the broth during long cooking.

The step that matters

Press the remaining mixture through a sieve. Pressing softened split peas and vegetables through a sieve breaks them into a smooth purée that thickens the broth. Pressing too hard or skipping this step leaves the broth thin or gritty.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, onion, carrot, parsley, thyme):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, onion, carrot, parsley, thyme. 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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