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Mutton Soup, Good

A hearty mutton soup made by simmering mutton, carrots, turnips, onions, and herbs for a day, then simmering and thickening with arrowroot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mutton Soup, Good

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the meat

  1. Place the mutton, carrots, turnips, onions, and herbs in a covered pot by the fire for the whole day, stirring occasionally.

  2. Transfer everything to a stewpan and place it over a brisk fire.

  3. Once it starts to boil, remove it from the heat.

  4. Let it simmer until the meat is cooked.

  5. Remove the meat.

  6. Serve it with the carrots and turnips.

Finish the soup

  1. Strain the soup.

  2. Let the soup cool.

  3. Skim off the fat.

  4. Season.

  5. Thicken with 1 tablespoon of arrowroot.

  6. Add a little sherry.

  7. Simmer for 5 minutes.

  8. 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.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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

Mutton
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as its fat and connective tissue break down.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aroma to the broth as they cook slowly.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and colour to the soup while they soften.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and soft texture to the stew.
Arrowroot (in the method)
Thickens the strained broth into a silkier, lightly body texture.

The step that matters

Keep the soup at a gentle simmer. Once it starts to boil, the heat is removed, and a long slow simmer keeps the meat tender and the broth clear. Vigorous boiling toughens meat and makes the liquid cloudy and greasy.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, parsley, pepper, sherry. 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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