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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup of mutton, barley, and vegetables simmered slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the barley overnight.

  2. Remove the fat and skin from the mutton and cut the mutton into small pieces.

  3. Dice the vegetables.

Make the broth

  1. Boil the bones in 1 pint of cold water.

  2. Boil the meat in 3 pints of cold water.

  3. When the liquid boils, add the soaked barley.

  4. Strain the bones from the water.

  5. Add the strained liquid to the meat along with the salt and pepper.

Finish the soup

  1. Fry the diced vegetables in 2 tablespoons of butter for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the fried vegetables to the meat.

  3. Cook slowly for 4 hours.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + barleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 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
Provides the main meat flavour and, as it simmers, gelatin that gives the broth body.
Barley
Swells as it cooks, thickening the broth and adding a soft, chewy texture.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and colour to the broth as it softens during the long simmer.
Turnip
Softens during the long simmer and adds a mild, slightly peppery sweetness.
Butter
Fat used to fry the vegetables, carrying aroma and adding richness.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for 4 hours. A gentle simmer lets collagen in the mutton slowly break down into gelatin, giving body to the broth. A rapid boil toughens the meat and clouds the liquid.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, celery, carrot, turnip, onion, barley, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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