Chef Thomas
A Proper Chicken Broth
Sunday's roast chicken, simmered slowly on Monday with carrots, celery, leeks, and thyme into a bowl of clear, golden broth that smells like the kitchen is paying attention.
Culinary Explorer
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Scotch Broth
Created by Chef Thomas
Lamb neck and pearl barley simmered low with root vegetables until the broth thickens and the kitchen smells like the kind of evening when nobody wants to leave the table.
Soups & Stews
British
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
2 hr cook•2 hr 25 min total
Yield6 servings
January. Rain on the windows since morning. The kind of day that makes you want to stand near something warm and not think too hard. This is the soup for that.
Scotch broth is not a pretty thing. It sits in the bowl, thick and cloudy, full of swollen barley and soft vegetables and pieces of lamb that have given everything they had to the pot. It looks like it was made by someone who needed feeding, not impressing. That's exactly what it is. A few cheap cuts, a handful of whatever roots are in the vegetable drawer, a fistful of barley, and two hours of patient simmering while you do something else. The broth builds itself.
I make this when the cold settles in properly, when the market stalls are piled with swede and carrots and leeks, and lamb neck is sitting quietly in the butcher's window, undervalued and overlooked. It's a thrifty soup. The barley stretches it, the vegetables fill it out, and the lamb gives it a depth that stock cubes can only dream about. There are few better feelings than putting a warm bowl of this in front of someone on a dark evening and watching them go quiet for a moment.
I wrote it down in the notebook years ago: lamb, barley, swede, rain. Better the next day. That last part is always true. The barley continues to drink the broth overnight, the flavours settle and deepen, and what was good on Monday is something worth remembering on Tuesday.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
lamb neck fillet
Quantity
500g
cut into rough chunks
pearl barley
Quantity
100g
rinsed
onions
Quantity
2 medium
peeled and diced
carrots
Quantity
3
peeled and diced
celery
Quantity
2 sticks
diced
swede
Quantity
1 small
peeled and diced
leeks
Quantity
2
white and pale green parts, sliced
cold water or lamb stock
Quantity
1.5 litres
bay leaves
Quantity
2
thyme
Quantity
a few sprigs
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
a handful
roughly chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| lamb neck filletcut into rough chunks | 500g |
| pearl barleyrinsed | 100g |
| onionspeeled and diced | 2 medium |
| carrotspeeled and diced | 3 |
| celerydiced | 2 sticks |
| swedepeeled and diced | 1 small |
| leekswhite and pale green parts, sliced | 2 |
| cold water or lamb stock | 1.5 litres |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| thyme | a few sprigs |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| flat-leaf parsleyroughly chopped | a handful |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy-bottomed saucepan or stockpot, at least 4 litres
- •Ladle
- •Sharp knife and chopping board
Instructions
- 1
Brown the lamb
Put a large, heavy-bottomed pan over a decent heat. Season the lamb pieces with salt and pepper and lay them in the dry pan. Leave them alone. You want a proper brown crust on the underside before you turn them, which takes three or four minutes per side. The kitchen will start to smell of something good. When the meat has colour all over, lift it onto a plate. There will be dark, sticky bits on the bottom of the pan. That's flavour. Don't wash it away.
Don't crowd the pan. If the lamb pieces are touching, they steam instead of browning. Work in two batches if you need to. It's worth the extra minutes. - 2
Soften the base vegetables
Turn the heat down to medium. Add the onions and celery to the same pan with a splash of water to loosen the stuck bits from the lamb. Stir and scrape. Let them soften for five minutes or so, until the onions go translucent and the pan has cleaned itself. This is where the broth's depth begins.
- 3
Build the broth
Return the lamb to the pan. Add the pearl barley, the bay leaves, and the thyme. Pour in the cold water or stock. It should cover everything comfortably. Bring it up to a simmer, not a boil. A broth that boils goes cloudy and the lamb toughens. You want a gentle, lazy bubble, the kind where a single blip breaks the surface every few seconds. Put the lid on, slightly ajar, and let it go for an hour.
Starting with cold water rather than hot draws more flavour from the lamb bones. If you have lamb stock from a previous roast, use it. The broth will thank you. - 4
Add the root vegetables
After an hour, skim any scum or fat from the surface. Some people are fastidious about this. I skim what comes easily and don't worry about the rest. Add the carrots, swede, and leeks. Stir once, put the lid back on, and simmer for another forty-five minutes to an hour. The barley will have swollen and gone tender, the vegetables will be soft but not collapsed, and the lamb will pull apart if you press it with a spoon. That's when it's ready.
- 5
Season and serve
Fish out the bay leaves and the thyme stalks. Taste the broth. It will need more salt than you expect. Season it properly. Stir in the parsley at the last moment, so it stays bright and fresh against the deep, savoury broth. Ladle it into warm bowls. The broth should be thick with barley and vegetables, closer to a stew than a soup, the spoon standing up in it. Serve with bread. Good bread. The kind with a crust that shatters.
Chef Tips
- •Lamb neck is the cut for this. It has fat and connective tissue that melt into the broth over two hours, giving it body and richness that lean meat can't provide. Don't trim the fat too carefully. It renders down and becomes the broth's backbone.
- •The barley will continue to absorb liquid as the soup sits, so it thickens overnight. When you reheat it the next day, add a splash of water or stock to loosen it back to a consistency you like. This isn't a fault. It's the barley doing its job.
- •If you can, make this a day ahead. Refrigerate it overnight and lift the solidified fat from the surface the next morning. Reheat gently and the broth will be clearer, cleaner, and somehow deeper in flavour. Second-day scotch broth is a different thing entirely.
- •Don't cut the vegetables too small. You want pieces that hold their shape through two hours of simmering, not a purée. Roughly the size of your thumbnail is about right. Big enough to find with a spoon.
Advance Preparation
- •Best made a full day ahead. Refrigerate overnight, skim the fat from the surface, and reheat gently with a splash of water to loosen. The flavour deepens considerably overnight.
- •Freezes well for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat slowly on the hob. The barley softens further after freezing but the broth remains good.
- •The vegetables can be prepared and diced several hours ahead and kept in a bowl of cold water in the fridge. Drain well before adding to the pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
335 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
60 mg
Sodium
500 mg
Total Carbohydrates
34 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
20 g
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