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Soup

Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, vegetables, rice, and parsley, served optionally with dumplings.

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

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut steaks from the leg of mutton.

  2. Place the remaining meat in a pot with cold water.

  3. Add the turnip, carrot, and rice.

Cook and finish

  1. Boil gently until the meat is tender.

  2. Remove all fat from the broth.

  3. Towards the end, add chopped fresh parsley.

  4. Serve with dumplings if desired.

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

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

  2. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,477 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + ricetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together824 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 flavour that give the broth its body.
Rice
Thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during gentle boiling.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Remove all fat from the broth. Fat rises and sets on the surface as the broth cools, and skimming it while hot keeps the broth clean-tasting and less greasy.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Celeryfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, turnip, carrot, rice. 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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