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Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made with mutton, vegetables, and optional oatmeal, barley, and marigolds, served hot with toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Turnip and leek 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 ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the mutton pieces and cold beef stock or water with oatmeal if using in a stewpot.

  2. Add the turnips, onion, leeks, celery, thyme, and parsley.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Skim off any impurities.

  5. Remove a piece of mutton when nearly done.

  6. Set the removed mutton aside.

  7. Continue boiling the remaining ingredients until tender.

Prepare and finish

  1. Prepare the diced turnips, leeks, celery, cabbage, and marigolds.

  2. Wash them well.

  3. Strain the broth.

  4. Skim off the fat.

  5. Add the strained broth back to the pot with the reserved mutton and pearl barley if desired.

  6. Season with coarse sea salt.

  7. Simmer until everything is cooked through.

  8. Serve hot with toasted bread on the side.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

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

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

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 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
Provides rich meaty flavour and body to the broth as it cooks.
Oatmeal
Thickens the broth slightly as its starch dissolves during simmering.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and soft texture to the finished broth.
Leeks
Contribute a mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.
Cabbage
Adds body and a soft, vegetal texture as it simmers.
Pearl barley
Thickens the broth and adds chewy texture as its starch releases.

The step that matters

Skim off the impurities and fat. Foam and surface fat rise as the broth heats; removing them keeps the broth clear and less greasy.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, beef, turnip, leek, 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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