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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton and barley soup with onion, carrot, thyme, 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: Clove and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,108 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the mutton, barley, onion, carrot, and thyme with enough water to cover.

  2. Cook until the mutton is tender.

  3. Remove the meat and onion from the pot.

  4. Cut the mutton into small cubes and return it to the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir well and before serving, mix in the cream or half milk and cream.

  2. Serve immediately.

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. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Barley + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Provides the main meat and rich flavour as it cooks slowly into the broth.
Barley
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during simmering and adds chewy texture.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and body to the broth as it softens during cooking.
Cream or half milk and cream
Adds fat and richness, softening the broth's flavour and giving a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stirring in the cream at the end. Cream added to a boiling liquid can curdle or separate, so it is best stirred in after the pot is off the heat or at a gentle simmer.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, barley, onion, carrot, thyme, cream):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, onion, carrot, thyme, cream. 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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