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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton broth with barley, vegetables, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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

Make the broth

  1. Trim the neck of mutton as for cutlets and set aside seven cutlets on a dish.

  2. Place the remaining neck into a saucepan with 2 quarts of soft cold water.

  3. Add 2 onions, one studded with 2 cloves.

  4. When the water is just boiling, skim the surface.

  5. Add ½ pint of diced carrots, turnips, leeks, and onions in equal quantities.

  6. Simmer for 3 hours.

  7. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.

Cook the barley and cutlets

  1. Blanch 2 oz. of Scotch barley and finish cooking it in water with a little butter and salt.

  2. In another pan, cook the cutlets slowly in some of the broth.

Serve

  1. Drain the barley and place it in a tureen with the cutlets.

  2. Remove the neck of mutton to a dish and pour the broth into the tureen.

  3. Add 2 teaspoons of coarsely 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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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

Mutton neck
Gives the broth its rich meaty flavour and body as it simmers.
Scotch barley
Thickens the broth and adds a chewy, starchy texture.
Carrots
Add sweetness and colour to the broth as they cook.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and body to the broth.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like aroma and savoury depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface when the water just boils. Skimming removes the grey foam and fat that rise as meat heats, keeping the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or greasy.

Swap the onion

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

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

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