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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup of mutton, barley, leeks, turnips, and carrots simmered together.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Make the broth

  1. Combine the liquor from the boiled mutton with the chopped leeks in a pot.

  2. Add the washed Scotch barley and bring to a simmer.

  3. Cut the turnips and carrots into shapes, then add them to the pot.

  4. Add the mutton chops and stew until the meat is tender.

  5. Skim off any fat.

Serve

  1. Serve in a tureen with the chops in the broth.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 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

Scotch barley
Swells as it simmers, thickening the broth and giving it body and a chewy texture.
Leeks
Soften in the broth and add a mild, sweet onion-like flavour.
Mutton chops
Release flavour and gelatin into the broth as they stew until tender.
Turnips
Hold their shape in the broth while adding mild sweetness and earthy flavour.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour while staying firm enough to hold their shape.

The step that matters

Skim off any fat. Mutton fat rises and can make the broth greasy and cloudy. Removing it while the broth is hot leaves a cleaner, lighter flavour.

Swap the carrot

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Carrotthe original

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