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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton neck, barley, carrot, turnip, leeks, parsley, and water, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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. Cut the mutton, barley, carrot, turnip, parsley, and leeks into small pieces.

  2. Place them in a basin and cover with boiling water.

  3. Let them sit for 10 minutes, then drain the water.

Cook and season

  1. Transfer the vegetables to a pot, add 4 quarts of water, and boil until cooked.

  2. Season with salt and 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. 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. Carrot + turniptop 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

Neck mutton
Provides the meat flavour and richness that give the broth its body.
Barley
Releases starch as it simmers, thickening the broth and adding a soft, chewy texture.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and body as it softens during simmering.
Turnip
Contributes a mild, slightly peppery sweetness and soft texture to the broth.

The step that matters

Draining after the boiling-water soak. Pouring off the soaking water removes surface impurities and scum from the meat and vegetables, which helps keep the finished broth clean-tasting and clear.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Celeryfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

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