Skip to main content
Main

Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, water, vegetables, barley, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
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

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, add the mutton, water, onions, celery, turnips, carrots, parsley, pearl barley, salt, sugar, and pepper.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 3 hours.

  3. Strain the broth.

  4. Cut the best part of the meat into pieces about the size of a filbert.

  5. Let the broth cool completely and remove any grease.

Finish and serve

  1. Reheat the broth.

  2. Add the meat, diced carrots, and sliced onions.

  3. Season with salt.

  4. Serve very hot.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 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
Provides the meat and rich flavour that give the broth its body.
Pearl barley
Releases starch as it simmers, adding body and thickness to the broth.
Turnips
Contribute sweetness and aroma as they cook slowly in the liquid.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour to the broth.
Onions
Build savoury depth and aroma in the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Let the broth cool completely and remove any grease. Fat floats and solidifies as the broth cools, so it can be skimmed off cleanly. Skimming while cold gives a clearer, less greasy broth when reheated.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, celery, turnip, carrot, parsley, barley, sugar. 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 →

You might also like

Carrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesHaricot MuttonHaricot Mutton59 recipesMutton SoupMutton Soup56 recipes