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Soup

Dr. Kitchener’s Broth

A barley and bacon broth made with meat liquor, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Barley and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,166 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Dr. Kitchener’s Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the barley and soak it in water for 2 hours.

  2. Put the meat liquor on to boil.

Make the broth

  1. When boiling, add the barley and onions.

  2. Let it boil gently for 1.5 hours.

  3. In another saucepan, heat the dripping and fry the bacon.

  4. Gradually add the oatmeal, stirring until it forms a paste.

  5. Pour in the broth and season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.

  6. Set aside to simmer for 30 minutes; the soup is then ready.

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.

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. Barley + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 recipes

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

  2. Barley + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together224 recipes

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

  3. Onion + meattop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Scotch barley
Swells during long simmering, giving the broth body and a thick, hearty texture.
Oatmeal
Forms a paste with the fat that thickens the broth as it is stirred in.
Dripping
Carries flavour from the frying pan and adds richness to the soup.
Bacon
Adds savoury, smoky flavour when fried in the dripping.
Sliced onions
Soften during boiling and add sweetness and aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Gradually add the oatmeal, stirring until it forms a paste. Adding oatmeal all at once can leave lumps. Adding it gradually while stirring lets it blend evenly with the fat and liquid, so the broth thickens smoothly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, meat):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, meat. 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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