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Scotch Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made from mutton neck, Scotch barley, leeks, onions, parsley, thyme, turnips, celery, and carrots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the mutton and water in a stewpan and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the Scotch barley, leeks, onions, parsley, and thyme, then skim the surface.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, then skim again.

  4. If the broth is too thick, add ½ pint of boiling water.

Add vegetables and serve

  1. Add the turnips, celery, and carrots, then simmer slowly for another 1.5 hours.

  2. Serve the meat in pieces with the broth or separately.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Barley + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together360 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton neck
Gives the broth its rich, savory flavor as it simmers and releases gelatin.
Scotch barley
Thickens the broth as its starch swells and softens during long simmering.
Leeks and onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they soften.
Turnips, carrots and celery
Add sweetness, body and vegetable flavor as they cook slowly in the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface. Foam and fat rising from the meat during the first boil and simmer can cloud the broth and taste greasy. Skimming at the start and again after 2 hours keeps it clear and clean-flavored.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, leek, parsley, thyme, 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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