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Scotch Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made from mutton neck, barley, carrots, turnips, onions, and parsley.

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 ↓

Scotch Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the mutton in water for 1 hour.

  2. Cut off the scrag from the mutton.

  3. Place the mutton in a stewpan with 3 quarts of water.

  4. Bring the liquid to a boil.

  5. Skim the surface well.

  6. Simmer for 1.5 hours.

  7. Cut the best end of the mutton into cutlets.

  8. Remove most of the fat from the cutlets.

Make the broth

  1. Skim the broth when the meat boils and every 10 minutes thereafter.

  2. Add the carrots, turnips, and onions to the broth.

  3. Stir in the barley.

  4. Add salt to taste.

  5. Let everything stew together for 3.5 hours.

  6. About 30 minutes before serving, add chopped parsley.

Serve

  1. Serve the meat in the tureen with the soup.

  2. Serve the remaining mutton on a separate dish with whole boiled turnips.

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. 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 neck
Long simmering breaks down its connective tissue, giving the broth body and tender meat.
Barley
Its starch thickens the broth and adds a soft, chewy texture.
Carrots
Release natural sweetness and color into the broth as they cook.
Turnips
Soften during stewing and add mild sweetness and body to the broth.
Onions
Build savory depth and aroma as their sugars soften and release flavor into the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the broth. Foam and fat rise to the surface as the meat cooks. Removing them regularly keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy result.

Swap the onion

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

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

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