Skip to main content
Main

Mutton-stock for Soups

A rich stock made from beef and mutton with vegetables and spices, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Mutton-stock for Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine equal parts of beef and mutton with a small portion of ham or dried beef.

  2. Add necks of fowl or bones from an uncooked joint if desired.

  3. Pour 1 to 1½ gallons of cold water for each pound of meat.

Simmer

  1. Skim the liquid well and bring to a boil.

  2. Add salt, celery, onions, turnips, carrots, herbs, peppercorns, cloves, and mace.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer gently for about 6 hours.

Finish

  1. Strain the stock and let it cool.

  2. Remove all fat before serving.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Beef
Its connective tissue breaks down into gelatin during long simmering, giving the stock body.
Mutton
Contributes a rich, meaty flavour that forms the base of the stock.
Onions
Release sweet, savoury flavours into the liquid as they simmer.
Carrots
Add mild sweetness and rounded flavour to the stock.
Turnips
Add earthy, slightly sweet flavour as they cook down.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic savoury note to the stock.

The step that matters

Skim the liquid well and bring to a boil. As the liquid heats, foam and impurities rise to the surface. Skimming them early keeps the stock clear and stops off flavours from mixing back into it during the long simmer.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

You might also like

Beef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipes