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Francatelli's Mutton Broth

A hearty mutton broth with barley and turnips, seasoned with thyme, parsley, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Francatelli's Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a saucepan, combine the chopped mutton, barley, and water.

  2. Bring to a gentle boil, skimming off any foam.

  3. Season with salt, thyme, parsley, and add the turnips.

  4. Simmer gently on low heat for 1.5 hours.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the broth through a fine strainer into a basin.

  2. Serve with some of the meat and barley, and a bit of nice brown toast if desired.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Parsley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Thyme + turniptop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,352 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Barley + thymetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together189 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Releases flavour and gelatin into the water, giving the broth body and savoury depth.
Barley
Thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during simmering, adding body.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and earthy flavour as they soften in the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam after the boil. Foam carries impurities from the meat that can make the broth taste dull or murky. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the parsley

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

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

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