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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup of beef, mutton, rice, carrots, turnips, onions, seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Scotch 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 ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces and remove all the fat.

Simmer

  1. Place the meat in a pot with the water and rice, and simmer for 1 hour.

  2. Add the diced vegetables and simmer for 1½ hours longer.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chopped parsley just 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.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Shin of beef
Provides meat flavor and body to the broth as it simmers slowly.
Neck of mutton
Adds rich, savory flavor and gelatin that gives the broth body.
Rice
Thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during simmering.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and color, and soften into tender pieces.
Turnips
Contribute a mild, slightly peppery sweetness and soften as they cook.

The step that matters

Removing the fat from the meat. Fat not removed before simmering rises into the broth and makes it greasy and cloudy. Trimming it first gives a cleaner, lighter broth.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

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