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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, barley, and vegetables, simmered slowly for a rich flavor.

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

Prepare

  1. Wash the pearl barley and soak it in cold water.

  2. Cut the mutton into joints and wash the mutton pieces.

  3. Wash and peel the turnip and onion.

  4. Wash and scrape the carrot.

  5. Trim the leeks, wash them well, and cut off the green tops.

  6. Dice all the vegetables.

  7. Wash and finely chop the parsley.

Make the broth

  1. Place the mutton pieces in a stewpan with 3 quarts of cold water.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, skim, add salt, and skim again.

  3. Simmer gently for 1.5 hours, skimming occasionally.

  4. Strain the broth into a basin.

Finish and serve

  1. Cut the mutton into small pieces.

  2. Return the broth to the saucepan.

  3. Add the meat, diced vegetables, soaked barley, pepper, and salt to taste.

  4. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 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

Mutton
Provides the meat flavour and richness of the broth as it simmers in water.
Pearl barley
Releases starch as it cooks, thickening the broth and adding body.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Turnip
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the broth as it softens.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and colour to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skimming after the boil. Skimming removes the grey foam and fat that rise as the meat heats up. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and less greasy.

Swap the onion

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

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

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