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Winter Hotch-Potch or German Broth

A hearty beef and mutton broth with carrots, turnips, leeks, parsley, and German greens, seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

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

Winter Hotch-Potch or German Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook the broth

  1. Cut the meat into handsome pieces.

  2. Boil the meat and skim off any foam.

  3. Add the sliced carrots, turnips, chopped leeks, and parsley.

  4. If using tender German greens, add them in the last 30 minutes of cooking.

  5. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  6. Ensure the soup has a good consistency without being too thick.

Serve

  1. Serve the meat and soup together.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 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

Beef or mutton ribs
Release flavour and gelatin into the broth, giving body and a rich meaty taste.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Turnips
Contribute mild sweetness and soften into the broth as it simmers.
Leeks
Add a gentle onion-like aroma and savoury depth.
German greens
Add texture and a fresh, slightly bitter note to the soup.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after boiling the meat. Foam is made of coagulated proteins and impurities that can cloud the broth and taste bitter. Removing it early keeps the soup clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the leek

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekthe original
  3. Okrafits less well
  4. Spinachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, 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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