Why it works: Summer savory and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 263 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Stuffed Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Remove the bone from the leg of mutton and fill the cavity with a stuffing made from bread crumbs, salt, pepper, summer savory, chopped salt pork, and butter.
Skewer the ends of the mutton to secure the stuffing.
Sprinkle the outside of the mutton with salt and pepper.
Place the mutton in a roasting pan with a little water.
Roast
Roast in the oven, basting every 15 minutes with melted butter and dredging lightly with flour.
Cook for about 1.5 hours for a 6-pound piece, ensuring an even heat.
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.
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.
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Summer savory + flourtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together263 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + summer savorytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together671 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mutton + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of mutton
- Forms the main body of the roast, providing the meat that is cooked and served.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb juices and fat inside the cavity, keeping the stuffing moist and giving it body.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that melts into the stuffing and the surrounding meat.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and browns the outside as it is basted over the roast.
- Flour
- Dredged over the surface to help form a browned, crisp crust.
The step that matters
Basting and dredging during roasting. Regular basting with melted fat keeps the surface from drying out, while flour helps the exterior brown. Uneven heat or skipped basting can leave the outside dry and pale.
Swap the summer savory
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, bread, pepper, pork, butter, flour):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Sagefits about as well
- Summer savorythe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, bread, pepper, pork, butter, flour. 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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