Skip to main content
Main

Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton soup with barley, leeks, carrots, turnips, onions, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Scotch Broth

Why it works: Leek and turnip 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 ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Trim the neck of mutton for cutlets. Set aside 8 chops on a dish.

  2. Place the remaining neck in a 3-quart saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water, pepper, salt, and 2 onions (one studded with cloves).

  3. Bring to a boil and skim the surface.

  4. Add diced carrots, turnips, leeks, and onions.

  5. Simmer for 3 hours.

Cook the barley and chops

  1. Blanch the Scotch barley.

  2. Cook the barley in water with butter and salt until tender.

  3. Cook the chops in some of the broth until nicely done.

  4. Drain the barley.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place the barley in a tureen with the chops.

  2. Remove the neck of mutton.

  3. Pour the broth over it.

  4. Add the chopped parsley.

  5. Serve.

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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Barley + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 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

Neck of mutton
Gives the broth its rich meaty flavour and body as it simmers for hours.
Scotch barley
Thickens the broth and adds a chewy, starchy texture as it softens.
Carrots
Add sweetness and colour to the broth as they cook down.
Turnips
Add a mild, slightly sweet earthiness and bulk to the broth.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like aroma and soft texture to the broth.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the barley, softening its flavour.

The step that matters

Skim the surface after bringing to a boil. Foam and fat rising at the start cloud the broth and can taste greasy. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and clean-flavoured over the long simmer.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, onion, barley, leek, carrot, turnip, pepper):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, barley, leek, carrot, turnip, 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.

You might also like

Mutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesHaricot MuttonHaricot Mutton59 recipesMutton SoupMutton Soup56 recipes