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Mutton Broth

A hearty mutton broth with barley, turnips, carrots, onions, and optional suet dumplings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the mutton or sheep's heads with the soft water.

  2. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam.

  3. Add the barley or rice and boil for 1 hour.

  4. Stir in the turnips, carrots, and onions.

  5. Cook for an additional 1.5 to 2 hours until the broth reduces by one third.

Finish and serve

  1. Half an hour before serving, add the suet dumplings and optional herbs.

  2. Serve the meat on a separate dish and the broth, dumplings, and vegetables in a large tureen.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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

Mutton or sheep's heads
Gives the broth its meaty flavor and body as it simmers.
Barley or rice
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during long simmering.
Turnips
Add sweetness and earthy flavor that deepens as the broth reduces.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and color to the broth.
Onions
Build savory depth and aroma in the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after boiling. Foam rising at the start contains coagulated proteins and impurities. Skimming it early keeps the broth clear and prevents off flavors from settling into it during the long simmer.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, barley, turnip, carrot, onion):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Cuminfits less well

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