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Scotch Mutton Broth

A hearty broth made with mutton, Scotch barley, leeks, onions, turnips, celery, carrots, parsley, and thyme.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Scotch Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the mutton in a stewpan with water and bring to a boil.

  2. Add Scotch barley, leeks, onions, parsley, and thyme.

  3. Skim the surface, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

  4. Skim again and add boiling water if the broth is too thick.

Add the vegetables and serve

  1. Add turnips, celery, and carrots, then simmer for another 1.5 hours.

  2. The barley should be almost dissolved; serve the meat with the broth or separately.

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. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Barley + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as it simmers.
Scotch barley
Thickens the broth and softens until it is almost dissolved.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like sweetness that rounds out the broth.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aroma to the broth base.
Turnips
Soften during simmering and add a mild, slightly sweet flavour.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface. Skimming removes foam and loose fat that would otherwise cloud the broth and taste greasy. Doing it at the start and again after the simmer keeps the broth clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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