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Mutton-stock for Soups

A savory stock made from beef, mutton, and vegetables simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Mutton-stock for Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine equal parts of beef and mutton with a small portion of ham or lean bacon.

  2. Add necks of fowls or bones from an uncooked joint if desired.

  3. Pour 1 gallon of cold water for every 8 lbs of meat.

Make the stock

  1. Skim the liquid as it begins to boil.

  2. Add salt, celery, onions, turnips, carrots, herbs, peppercorns, cloves, and mace.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer gently for about 6 hours.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the stock and let it cool, removing all fat before serving.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  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. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides rich, savoury meat flavour and body to the stock as it simmers.
Mutton
Adds deeper, more distinctive meaty flavour and gelatin-rich body to the stock.
Mild turnips
Contribute gentle sweetness and vegetable flavour to the simmering liquid.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and a rounded background flavour to the stock.
Onions
Add savoury depth and aromatic flavour as they soften in the liquid.

The step that matters

Skimming the liquid as it begins to boil. Impurities and proteins rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing them early keeps the stock clear and prevents off-flavours from mixing back in during the long simmer.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mutton, turnip, carrot, celery, thyme, 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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