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Scotch Broth

A mutton bone broth with barley or rice, onion, parsley, and white roux.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Scotch Broth

Why it works: Onion and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Prepare stock by boiling mutton bones or trimmings in water until reduced to 1 quart.

  2. Skim off all fat from the stock.

Prepare the barley

  1. Wash the barley or rice and soak in cold water for 1 hour.

Simmer the broth

  1. Bring the stock to a rapid boil with the minced onion.

  2. Add the soaked barley (or rice) and simmer for 45 minutes.

  3. Stir in the minced parsley and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

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. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  2. Barley + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together630 recipes

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

  3. Barley + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,166 recipes

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

  4. Mutton + barleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  5. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Pearl barley or rice
Swells as it simmers, thickening the broth and giving it body and a chewy texture.
Mutton bones or trimmings
Release gelatin and meaty flavour into the water as they boil, forming the base of the stock.
White roux
Flour and fat cooked together to thicken the broth smoothly.
Onion
Releases sweetness and savoury aroma into the stock as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skim off all fat from the stock. Fat left floating on the stock makes the broth greasy and can carry off-flavours. Removing it before adding barley and vegetables gives a clean, clear broth.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, barley, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, barley, onion. 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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