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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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Illustration of Mutton BrothIllustration

Why it works: Mutton and cabbage work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and 210 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

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.

The picture is an illustration, not a photo of this recipe · 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mutton + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together210 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Turnip + leektop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,805 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together897 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.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  3. Potatobetter flavor fit
  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. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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