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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup made with mutton, barley, cabbage, carrots, and leek, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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. Trim off excess fat from the mutton.

  2. Place the meat in a saucepan with 2 pints of water and add 1 teaspoon of salt.

Make the broth

  1. Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  2. Add the pearl barley, cabbage, carrots, and leek.

  3. Simmer for at least 4 hours until everything is tender.

Serve

  1. Remove any rough bits of bone and serve the meat in the broth.

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

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

  3. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Cabbage + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together214 recipes

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

  5. Leek + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together759 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton scrag end
Gives rich flavour and tender meat as it simmers slowly in the broth.
Pearl barley
Thickens the broth slightly and adds a chewy texture as it cooks.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and mild sweetness, softening during the long simmer.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour, becoming tender in the broth.
Leek
Adds a mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum after boiling. Scum is coagulated protein and fat that rises as the liquid heats. Removing it keeps the broth clearer and cleaner-tasting over the long simmer.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

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