Skip to main content
Main

Scotch Broth

A hearty soup of barley, beef, and vegetables simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
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

Prepare the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine 4 ounces of pearl barley with 3 pints of salt water and bring to a boil.

  2. Skim off any foam, then add your choice of salt beef or fresh brisket, a marrow bone or fowl, and 2 pounds of lean beef or mutton.

  3. Add a good quantity of leeks, cabbages, or savoys, or use turnips, onions, and grated carrots if preferred.

  4. Keep boiling for 4 to 5 hours. If using a fowl, add it just before serving.

Alternative method

  1. For an alternative method, take chops from a neck of mutton and cut the remainder into small pieces.

  2. Stew the mutton pieces all day.

  3. Boil 1 cup of Scotch barley in water until dry.

  4. Chop 2 large onions and 2 large turnips finely, then combine with the barley and mutton in a stewpan.

  5. Strain the stock into the stewpan, let it boil for 1 hour, and skim well.

  6. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

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. Barley + leektop 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

Pearl barley
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during long simmering, giving body.
Lean beef or mutton
Releases flavour and gelatin into the stock during long simmering, enriching the broth.
Leeks, cabbages, or savoys
Adds vegetable flavour and soft texture after long boiling.
2 large turnips
Adds mild sweetness and body to the broth as it cooks down.

The step that matters

Keep boiling for 4 to 5 hours. A long, gentle simmer is needed to break down tough meat and collagen into tender meat and a rich stock. Boiling too hard can toughen the meat and cloud the broth.

“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.

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes