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Mutton-broth

A savory broth made from mutton, turnips, barley or rice, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Mutton-broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into pieces and place it in a large pot with water.

  2. Add turnips, pearl barley or rice, and whole pepper.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 3 hours, skimming the surface occasionally.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the broth, discarding the vegetables, and mix in chopped parsley and thyme.

  2. Mash the turnips and serve them separately with parsley and butter or caper sauce.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Turnip + barleytop 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 + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,352 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 meaty flavour and richness to the broth as it simmers slowly.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and body to the broth, and can be mashed to serve.
Pearl barley or rice
Releases starch that gives the broth a slightly thicker body.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface during the simmer. Impurities and fat rise to the surface as the broth simmers. Removing them regularly keeps the broth clear and less greasy. Keeping the heat at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil also helps prevent cloudiness.

Swap the onion

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

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

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