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Scotch Broth

A hearty soup of barley, beef, carrots, parsnip, cabbage, parsley, and seasonings.

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

Why it works: Carrot and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,097 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Scotch Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine barley, water, and beef in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 hours.

Add vegetables and finish

  1. Add chopped carrots, parsnip, cabbage, and parsley to the pot.

  2. Grate 2 carrots, then add the grated carrots, pepper, and salt to taste.

  3. Boil for another 2 hours.

  4. Skim off all the fat from the broth before serving.

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 + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

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

  3. Parsnip + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  5. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Barley
Thickens the broth as its starch releases during long simmering, giving body.
Beef
Adds savory meaty flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Carrots
Add sweetness and color to the broth as they soften.
Parsnip
Adds sweet, earthy flavor and body as it cooks down.
Cabbage
Adds mild sweetness and texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Skim off all the fat from the broth before serving. Fat rises to the surface of a long-simmered broth and can make it greasy. Removing it before serving gives a cleaner, lighter texture.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (barley, beef, carrot, parsnip, parsley, pepper):

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against barley, beef, carrot, parsnip, parsley, 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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