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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton or lamb, water, barley or rice, milk, salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Boil the meat in the cold water, keeping it covered, until it falls apart.

  2. Strain the broth, skim off the fat, and add the soaked barley or rice.

  3. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the seasoning and milk, and simmer for 5 more minutes, ensuring it doesn't burn.

  2. Serve hot with cream crackers.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

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

  3. Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,762 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton or lamb
Breaks down into tender pieces and gives the broth its rich, meaty flavour.
Rice or barley
Releases starch as it simmers, thickening the broth slightly and giving it body.
Milk
Adds mild sweetness and a softer, creamier body to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Stir in the milk and simmer gently. Milk can scorch or curdle when it sits on a hot base. Keeping the heat low and stirring while it simmers helps it stay smooth and prevents a burnt taste on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, rice, milk, pepper):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, rice, milk, pepper. 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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