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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made by simmering mutton with water, carrot, turnip, onion, peppercorns, celery seed, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the mutton in a clean stewpan with the water.

  2. Add the minced carrot, turnip, onion, peppercorns, and celery seed.

  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

  4. If a richer broth is desired, allow the water to reduce to 1 pint; otherwise, add water to maintain 1 quart.

  5. Season with coarse sea salt to taste.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as it simmers.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Onion
Contributes savoury, aromatic flavour that builds the broth's base.

The step that matters

Reducing or topping up the water. Water reduces through evaporation while simmering, concentrating flavour, so the choice between reducing to 1 pint and keeping 1 quart changes how rich and salty the broth tastes. Seasoning should wait until the final volume is set.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

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