Scotch Barley Broth

“Food for the Sick” was the topic of the Tuesday afternoon talk, and Scotch broth was the first dish made. Miss Parloa said this was excellent for convalescents, being appetizing and nutritious. Among the ingredients was a two-pound piece of the scraggy part of a neck of mutton. This particular cut was employed because the muscles of a sheep’s neck are in such constant use as to make that part of the animal better flavored and more nutrias than those parts through which the blood has run less freely. Miss Parloa cut the meat from the bones and removed all the fat. She cut the meat into small pieces and put it into a soup-kettle, together with two slices of carrot, a slice of turnip, a stalk of celery and an onion–all cut fine, half a cupful of barley and three pints of water; and the broth was allowed to simmer gently for two hours. The bones, with a pint of water added, also were allowed the same amount of time for simmering, and the liquor was strained into a soup kettle. A tablespoonful each of butter and flour were cooked together until perfectly smooth, and then stirred into the broth; after which salt and pepper and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley were added.

The audience was cautioned against rapid cooking as a high temperature hardens the fibbers of the meat, whereas a slow bubbling renders the meat tender and secures a better flavor for the broth. The vegetables should be cut very fine. Mutton is so nutritious and so easily digested as to deserve much attention as a food cooked during convalescence. If it be properly cooked the peculiar flavor that is disagreeable to some people is concealed, though the meat remains palatable.