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Mutton Broth

A light mutton broth with vegetables and barley, suitable for convalescents.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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. Remove all fat from the mutton and cut it into small pieces.

  2. Put the mutton, bones, salt, and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil, skimming as needed.

Simmer

  1. Add the diced vegetables and blanched barley.

  2. Simmer gently for three hours, skimming when necessary.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the broth and remove all fat.

  2. Reheat the broth in a saucepan and stir in the chopped parsley.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Provides the meat and bones that give the broth its savoury, rich flavour during long simmering.
Rice or pearl barley
Releases starch as it cooks, thickening the broth and giving it body.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and aroma to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma that builds as it simmers in the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the broth. Scum and fat that rise during the initial boil and simmer can make the broth cloudy and greasy. Skimming as needed and removing fat after straining keeps it clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

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

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