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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup made from roasted chicken, rice, and a mild broth, finished with cream.

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

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Roast the chicken.

  2. Remove all the meat from the bones.

  3. Chop the chicken meat.

  4. Pound the chopped meat with the rice to a pulp.

Make the broth

  1. Put the broken bones and skin into 2 quarts of cold water.

  2. Simmer gently for about 2 hours to make a weak broth.

  3. Strain the broth.

  4. Add the strained broth to the chicken and rice mixture.

  5. Press the mixture through a sieve.

  6. Set the pressed mixture aside until needed.

  7. Remove the fat from the top when cold.

Finish the soup

  1. Heat the soup over boiling water without letting it boil.

  2. Add the warmed cream.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Cream + ricetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main body of meat and flavour for the soup.
Boiled rice
Pounded to a pulp, its starch thickens the soup and gives it body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Heat the soup over boiling water without letting it boil. Cream can curdle or separate at a rolling boil. Gentle heat keeps the warmed cream smooth and evenly blended into the soup.

“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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