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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton broth with barley and diced vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

Why it works: Leek and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Simmer the mutton

  1. Cut the mutton into small pieces.

  2. Place the mutton in a large pot with the cold water and salt.

  3. Cook gently for 2 hours.

Add the vegetables and finish

  1. Wash the barley.

  2. Add the barley and diced vegetables to the pot.

  3. Cook for an additional hour, totaling 3 hours of cooking time.

  4. Strain the broth.

  5. Return the strained broth to the pot.

  6. Remove any bones from the meat and vegetables.

  7. Add the bones back to the broth.

  8. Heat until hot.

  9. Season to taste.

  10. Serve.

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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Leek + barleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 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
Its connective tissue breaks down into gelatin during slow cooking, giving the broth body and rich flavor.
Scotch barley
Releases starch as it cooks, thickening the broth and adding a chewy texture.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, adding savory depth to the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and color to the broth.
Turnip
Softens into the broth, adding earthy flavor and body.
Leek
Adds a mild, sweet onion-like aroma as it softens.

The step that matters

Cook gently for 2 hours. A gentle simmer lets collagen in the mutton convert slowly to gelatin while keeping the meat tender. Boiling hard toughens the meat and makes the broth cloudy.

Swap the onion

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

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

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