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Soup

Scotch Broth

A hearty soup made with pearl barley, salt beef or brisket, marrow bone or fowl, and vegetables such as leeks, cabbage, or parsnips.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

Make the broth

  1. Combine 4 ounces of pearl barley with 6 quarts of salt water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam.

  2. Add salt beef or fresh brisket, a marrow bone or fowl, and 2 pounds of lean beef or mutton.

  3. Add a good quantity of leeks, cabbage, or parsnips, or use turnips, onions, and grated carrots if preferred.

  4. Keep boiling for at least 4 to 5 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. If using a fowl, add it just before serving.

  2. Serve the fowl separately if used.

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

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

  3. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Barley + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 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

Pearl barley
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during long simmering.
Lean beef or mutton
Adds meaty flavour and body to the broth as it simmers.
Marrow bone
Releases gelatin and fat during long cooking, enriching the broth's body and flavour.
Leeks, cabbage, or parsnips
Contribute sweetness and vegetable flavour that mellows during prolonged boiling.

The step that matters

Keep boiling for at least 4 to 5 hours. Tough cuts of meat and bones need long, steady simmering to break down connective tissue and release gelatin, which gives the broth body. Stopping early leaves the meat tough and the broth thin.

“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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