Why it works: Mutton and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,019 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mutton Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook the mutton
Place the mutton pieces in a pot with cold water.
Cover and boil until the meat is tender and falls apart.
Add the cereal and finish
If using, soak rice or barley in warm water while the mutton cooks.
Remove the mutton from the pot and add the soaked cereal.
Simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until the cereal is cooked.
Season with salt to taste.
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.
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Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 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
- Lean mutton
- Provides the meat and rich flavour that gives the broth its body.
- Cold water
- Serves as the liquid base that extracts flavour and gelatin from the meat as it heats.
- Rice or barley
- Thickens the broth slightly as its starch releases during simmering.
The step that matters
Start the mutton in cold water. Starting in cold water lets the meat warm gradually, so proteins and flavour pass into the liquid and produce a clearer, more flavourful broth. Adding hot water can seal the surface and trap flavour in the meat.
“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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