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Mutton -stock for Soups

A hearty stock made from beef and mutton with vegetables and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 beef and mutton in a large pot.

  2. Add a small portion of ham or dried beef if desired.

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

Simmer

  1. Skim the liquid well as it begins to boil.

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

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

Strain and 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. Carrot + celerytop 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
Bones and connective tissue release flavour and gelatin into the water, giving the stock body.
Mutton
Adds a richer, more distinctive meat flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming as the liquid begins to boil. Skimming removes foam of coagulated proteins and impurities that rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing them early keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or greasy.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

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