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Scotch Broth

A hearty mutton and barley broth with vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

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 Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into small pieces.

  2. Place the mutton in a large pot with cold water and salt.

  3. Wash the barley.

  4. Dice the vegetables.

Simmer

  1. Cook gently for about 2 hours.

  2. Add the barley and diced vegetables to the pot.

  3. Cook for another hour, making a total of 3 hours.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the broth.

  2. Return the strained broth to the pot.

  3. Remove any bone fragments from the meat and vegetables.

  4. Add the bone fragments back to the broth.

  5. Heat until hot.

  6. Season to taste.

  7. Serve.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Leek + barleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together142 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 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
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and, as it cooks, body and richness.
Barley
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during long simmering and adds a chewy texture.
Leeks
Add sweet, mild onion flavour that deepens during the long simmer.
Carrots
Add sweetness and colour, and hold their shape through long cooking.
Turnip
Adds a mildly sweet, earthy flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Cook gently for about 2 hours. A gentle simmer lets the meat release its flavour and collagen slowly into the water, giving a clear, rich broth. A hard boil makes the broth cloudy and toughens the meat.

Swap the onion

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

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

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