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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made by simmering mutton necks with optional vegetables and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Turnip and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,418 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the mutton is fresh and wash it in tepid water.

  2. Cut the meat into small pieces and place it in a stockpot.

  3. Add 1 quart of water for each pound of meat (or 1.5 quarts for a lighter broth).

  4. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  5. If desired, add onions, turnip, and peppercorns.

Simmer and finish

  1. After 2 hours, add the celery and let the broth simmer gently for a total of 3 hours.

  2. Strain the broth and let it cool to allow the fat to rise.

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. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 recipes

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

  5. Mutton + turniptop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,558 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton necks
Provides the meat and bones that flavour and enrich the broth as they simmer.
Water
Extracts flavour and gelatin from the meat and bones into the liquid.
Onions
Add aromatic sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum after the boil. Impurities and proteins that rise to the surface can cloud the broth and taint its flavour, so removing them keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, turnip, celery):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, turnip, celery. 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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