Scotch Broth

The Method for Scotch Broth

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1. Put the lamb in a large pot with the cold water and bring slowly to a simmer.

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2. Skim the grey scum off the surface for the first 20 minutes, until it stops rising.

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3. Add the barley, split peas, onions and salt and simmer, half covered, 60 minutes.

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4. Add the carrot, swede, turnip and leek and simmer 40 minutes more, until the barley has burst and thickened the broth.

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5. Lift the lamb out, strip the meat from the bones and return it to the pot. Discard the bones.

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6. Skim any fat from the surface and season with the pepper.

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7. Stir the parsley through just before serving.

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What Can Go Wrong

1. Barley in at the start. That is where the thickness comes from.
2. Skim hard for the first twenty minutes.
3. Better made a day ahead, when the fat lifts off in a sheet.

What to Serve It With

Oatcakes · Buttered bread · A second bowl

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Selkirk Bannock, Tattie Scones, Clapshot.

Keeping Scotch Broth

Refrigerated for 4 days and better on the second. Freezes 3 months.

Scotch Broth Nutrition Facts

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: weights that include bone are counted as if all of it were eaten, so the figures run high; part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.