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Soup

Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made from mutton, barley, carrots, turnip, onion, parsley, and cream.

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

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak 2 ounces of pearl barley in water overnight.

  2. Trim the fat from 4 pounds of mutton and cut it into large pieces.

  3. Combine the mutton, soaked barley, and 5 pints of water in a stewpan.

  4. Prepare the vegetables and add them to the stewpan when the liquid simmers.

Simmer and skim

  1. Add 2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt and let it cook gently for 3 hours.

  2. Strain the liquid into a basin and let it cool to remove the fat.

  3. Return the remaining liquid to boil with the barley.

Finish

  1. Dice some of the vegetables and add them along with 1 tablespoon of cream and 1 tablespoon of 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. 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. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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 scrag end
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as it simmers for hours.
Pearl barley
Its starch thickens the broth and adds a soft, slightly chewy texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the fat after straining. Mutton fat sets on the cooled liquid and is easiest to lift off in one piece. Leaving it in makes the broth greasy, so the fat should be fully removed before reheating.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

More mutton broth recipes

Scotch 33with Chops 5Jelly 3with Roots 3 See all 391 →

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