Traditional Scotch Broth Soup Recipe (2024)

- My mum's second best soup recipe! Traditionally Scotch Broth is a bit of everything thrown into the pot and is quite filling. In olden days Scots would eat this as a main meal. In modern times many Scottish households still serve it as a main meal rather than a starter. Ingredients can be substituted depending on your own tastes. It's best made the day before to allow the full flavour to soak through. We make a huge pot of it and boil it up each day, adding more tatties and water as needed. It is very warming when eaten during the winter and is popular on New Year's Day. Scots broth soup recipes are sometimes called Barley Broth soup.

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1kg neck of mutton or lamb (my mum sometimes uses chicken in this recipe for Scotch broth)
75g pearl barley
1 large onion
75g split peas or fresh peas
1 large leek
3 small turnips
1 swede
water depending on thickness required - try 2.5 litres
3 carrots
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley
salt and pepper
small cabbage (optional ingredient for this Scottish broth recipe - Reader Patricia uses a small piece of shin beef and kale instead of cabbage.)

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How To Make Scotch Broth

1. Pre-soak the barley and split peas

2. Chop all the vegetables

3. Melt a wee bit of lard/cooking oil and add the chopped onion. Once softened add the water and meat (you can just add stock rather than boil meat) and boil, skimming off any fatty deposits from the top.

4. After boiling for about half an hour add the barley and peas and simmer for another 30 minutes.

5. Add the remaining vegetables.

6. If used, remove the bone and strip off the meat and return this to the pot.

7. Some people might be tempted to give a dog the bone afterwards. However the boiling of the bone weakens it, making it softer and causing fragments to come off when chewed by an animal. This stock bone could cause mouth ulceration, choking or tears to the lining of the stomach wall from bone fragments and cause dogs pain and discomfort.

8. Add parsley before serving. Great with warmed bread rolls.

9. If making a big pot full it'll keep out provided you boil and stir each day. Though to be safe it would probably best be kept in the fridge or individual portions could be freezed and used as needed.

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Nick Nairn's New Scottish CookeryTraditional Scotch Broth Soup Recipe (8) has a different Scotch Broth soup recipe which uses shin of beef.

Scottish Broth

The Book Maw Broons Cookbook has a Scottish Broth much like the one above though it includes the use of additional vegetable ingredients such as kail. It was taken from the Housewife Weekly magazine how to make broth soup page. Buy Maw Broon's Cookbook at a discounted price and with free delivery available.Traditional Scotch Broth Soup Recipe (9)

The book Scots Cooking: The Best Traditional and Contemporary Scottish Recipes by Sue Lawrence describes it as a health giving dish and compares it to the restorative powers of Jewish chicken soup. The Scotch Broth recipe by Sue Lawrence differs slightly from the one below in that it is much thicker and has different ingredients such as dried marrowfat peas and curly kale.

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Traditional Scotch Broth Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Where did Scotch Broth originate? ›

What happens if you don't soak broth mix? ›

Soak the broth mix in cold water overnight for best results. If you forget try boiling the mix in water for 20 minutes then leave to soak for a couple of hours. If you don't soak the mix then your soup with be crunchy. The soft, stodgy texture is part of what makes Scotch Broth unique and delicious.

How to make soup broth better? ›

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says. The choice of ingredient depends on the recipe, though.

Do you have to soak country soup mix? ›

This mix requires no soaking as it contains no large beans. It should cook in 30 minutes un-soaked. It contains Red Lentils, Pearl Barley, Yellow Split Peas and Green Split Peas.

Why is scotch broth called scotch broth? ›

Scotch broth is a Scottish soup made with lamb or mutton, along with barley and vegetables. It is also known as barley soup or the pot-au-feu of Scotland. Scotch broth is considered the national soup of Scotland because of its deep, over 200-year history.

What is the meaning of Scotch soup? ›

Scotch broth is a soup originating in Scotland. The principal ingredients are usually barley, stewing or braising cuts of lamb, mutton or beef, root vegetables (such as carrots, swedes, or sometimes turnips), and dried pulses (most often split peas and red lentils).

Why should you not boil broth? ›

Just as when you're making stock for soups or stews, boiling will cause soluble proteins and rendered fat to emulsify into the cooking liquid. By simmering, you avoid emulsifying the fat and thus keep the stock clearer, and we found that the scum created simply settled to the bottom of the pot.

Can you simmer broth too long? ›

Cook it too long, though, and you get into a case of seriously diminishing returns. Throughout my testing, I tasted my stocks as they cooked, and I generally found about one and a half hours to be a reasonable endpoint—plenty of time for a flavorful, rich broth, but not so long that it's a major commitment to make it.

Can you boil broth too long? ›

When it comes to cooking time at least. There's a limit to how much flavor a given ingredient will impart—past that, extra time just turns everything to mush. Big beef or lamb bones can be cooked for up to eight hours, or overnight. Chicken bones are more like four to six.

What is the most important ingredient in soup? ›

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

How do you add depth of flavor to soup? ›

Garlic and roasted onions add depth. Simmering mushrooms down concentrates flavors for mushroom soup. Simmering most vegetables down also adds more concentrated flavors and reduces the water in them. Herbs, salt and pepper also help.

Why is my homemade soup so bland? ›

Perk up a Bland Soup With Simple Pantry Staples

Chances are, you could use a little more salt. Go ahead—it's ok. Salt perks up flat flavors and helps balance out bitter-tasting ingredients. Some freshly cracked pepper helps, too!

Does sour cream make soup creamy? ›

Yogurt, Sour Cream, and Crème Fraîche – Dairy like yogurt, sour cream, and crème fraîche can add a creamy acidity to soups, but can curdle and be unpleasant if cooked over heat for too long, so swirl these in last.

Do you have to pre-soak broth mix? ›

Unless you are using quick cook broth mix you will need to soak it overnight (10 hours). Place the broth mix in a bowl and add the water until just covering the mix then leave to soak. Add boiling water and stock cubes to a pan and once its dissolved add the broth mix.

Why are the split peas in my soup still hard? ›

If the peas are very old and dried out, they won't soften.

Is Scotch American or British? ›

Scotch or Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.

Where did beef broth originate? ›

Asia: Nourishment for Body and Soul. In Asia, bone broth has been a cornerstone of culinary and medicinal traditions for centuries. Known as "long-simmered soup" or "tonic soup”, ancient Chinese traditions believed bone broth harnessed the essence of the bones and imparted their healing properties into the broth.

Where were Scotch pies invented? ›

Scotland

Is it Scotch beef or Scottish beef? ›

Since 1996, only the finest, naturally reared and well-cared for beef from Scotland can be called Scotch Beef.

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