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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made from mutton, pearl barley, celery, onion, parsley, and salt, served with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and cut the mutton into small pieces.

  2. Cover the meat with cold water in a pot.

  3. Add the washed pearl barley.

  4. Bring to a slow boil.

  5. Add the chopped celery, onion, parsley, and salt.

  6. Simmer until the meat falls off the bones.

Finish the broth

  1. Let the broth cool and remove all fat.

  2. Strain the broth through a cloth or fine sieve.

  3. Reheat the broth, pour into cups, and top each with a tablespoon of whipped cream.

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

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

  2. Barley + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together571 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

Mutton neck
Gives the broth its meaty flavour and body as it simmers down into the liquid.
Pearl barley
Releases starch during simmering, thickening the broth and giving it a softer body.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury depth to the broth as it cooks slowly in the liquid.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, vegetal flavour that rounds out the meat and onion.

The step that matters

Simmer until the meat falls off the bones. A gentle simmer lets collagen in the connective tissue slowly break down into gelatin, enriching the broth. A hard boil makes the broth cloudy and greasy and can toughen the meat.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Pepperfits about as well

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