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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, vegetables, and barley, simmered slowly and seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove all the fat from the mutton.

  2. Cut the meat into small pieces.

  3. Dice the vegetables.

  4. If using pearl barley, blanch it by boiling it in water for a few minutes.

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the cold water, mutton, bones, and a little salt.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil slowly. Skim off any foam.

  3. Add the diced vegetables to the broth after it has cooked for 1 hour, along with the pearl barley.

  4. Simmer the broth gently for 3 hours.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the broth.

  2. Return the strained broth to the pot.

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

  4. Return the bone fragments to the broth.

  5. Bring the broth back to a boil.

  6. Sprinkle in the parsley.

  7. Season to taste.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Provides the meat and rich flavour that gives the broth its body.
Rice or pearl barley
Thickens the broth slightly as its starch softens during simmering.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma as it softens in the broth.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and colour to the broth.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a boil slowly. Starting in cold water and heating gently lets proteins and fat release gradually, so skimming removes foam and the broth stays clear rather than cloudy.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, celery, parsley, rice, 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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