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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, pearl barley, water, milk, parsley, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a pot, combine the mutton, soaked barley, and cold water.

  2. Simmer slowly for 4 hours.

  3. Strain the broth.

  4. Let it cool to remove the fat from the top.

Finish and serve

  1. Bring the strained broth back to a boil.

  2. Add the milk and finely chopped parsley.

  3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Barley + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together630 recipes

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

  3. Barley + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Barley + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  5. Mutton + barleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Supplies the meat flavour and gelatin that give the broth its body as it simmers.
Pearl barley
Releases starch during simmering, thickening the broth and adding a soft, chewy texture.
Milk
Adds richness and a mild sweetness that softens the savoury meat flavour.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly. A gentle simmer extracts flavour and gelatin from the meat while keeping the broth clear. A hard boil would emulsify fat into the liquid and cloud it.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, barley, milk, pepper):

  1. Celeryfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, milk, 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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