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Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made with mutton, vegetables, and optional oatmeal, barley, and marigolds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a stewpot, combine the mutton pieces and broth or water with oatmeal.

  2. Add the turnips, onion, leeks, celery, thyme, and parsley.

  3. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, and remove one piece of mutton when nearly done.

  4. Continue boiling the remaining mutton until tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Prepare the diced turnips, leeks, celery, cabbage, and parsley.

  2. Strain the broth, skim off fat, and add the prepared vegetables and mutton back in.

  3. If desired, add pearl barley and season with coarse sea salt.

  4. Simmer until all ingredients are cooked through and serve with toasted bread.

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 + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  4. Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 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 rich meaty flavor and gelatin that gives the broth body as it simmers.
Oatmeal
Thickens the broth slightly and adds a soft body to the liquid.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and a tender texture after long simmering.
Leeks
Contribute a gentle onion-like sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a mild sweetness while softening in the hot broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam. Foam and impurities rise as the broth comes to a boil and can cloud the liquid and taste bitter. Skimming early keeps the broth clear and clean-flavored.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, beef, turnip, leek, celery, thyme, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, beef, turnip, leek, celery, thyme, parsley. 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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