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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, bones, water, pearl barley, onion, carrot, salt, pepper, and parsley.

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

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the meat from the bones and cut it finely.

  2. Chop the bones and soak them in a basin with water and a little salt for 1 hour.

Make the broth

  1. Put the soaked bones and meat into a saucepan with the vegetables.

  2. Cook very slowly, removing the scum as it rises.

  3. Blanch the pearl barley and add it to the saucepan.

Finish and serve

  1. Once the meat, bones, and vegetables have been removed, cut the meat into tiny squares and the vegetables into dice.

  2. Season to taste and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

  3. If serving immediately, remove excess fat with kitchen paper.

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 + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Barley + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + barleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meaty flavour and richness as its proteins and fats slowly release into the broth.
Pearl barley
Its starch thickens the broth slightly and gives it a soft, hearty body.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and a gentle sweetness as it softens during slow cooking.
Carrot
Contributes subtle sweetness and aroma to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cook very slowly and skim the scum. Gentle simmering keeps the broth clear and lets flavour develop gradually. Skimming removes coagulated proteins and impurities that would otherwise cloud the broth and taste bitter.

Swap the onion

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

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

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