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Barley Broth

A clear broth made from Scotch barley, onions, water, clarified drippings, spices, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Barley Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the Scotch barley, sliced onions, and 5 quarts of water in a large pot.

  2. Boil gently for 1 hour, then pour the broth into a pan.

Season and finish

  1. Melt the beef or mutton drippings in the same saucepan.

  2. Gradually stir the melted fat into the barley broth, mixing well.

  3. In a teacup, combine celery or aniseed with cayenne or pepper and a small amount of the soup.

  4. Pour this mixture into the broth and stir thoroughly.

  5. Simmer gently for an additional 15 minutes.

  6. Season with salt to taste before serving.

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

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

  2. Barley + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together571 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Barley + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together458 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Scotch barley
Thickens the broth and gives it a chewy, hearty body as it cooks.
Beef or mutton drippings
Adds fat for richness and mouthfeel, carrying flavor through the broth.
Sliced onions
Contribute savory sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Stirring the melted fat into the broth. Fat added to hot liquid can separate or float in globules if not stirred in gradually and thoroughly. Mixing the fat in slowly helps it emulsify and spread evenly, so the broth tastes uniformly rich.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, beef, celery, 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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