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Breast of Mutton

A roasted mutton breast seasoned with herbs, onion, and spices, served with brown sauce and pickled mushrooms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Breast of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mutton

  1. Boil the mutton until the bones come out easily.

  2. Press the mutton between two plates under a weight and let it sit overnight.

Make the stuffing and bake

  1. The next day, place the mutton in a 350°F (175°C) oven, cover, and heat slowly.

  2. In a bowl, mix the chopped parsley, sweet herbs, onion, egg, pepper, and cayenne.

  3. Score the mutton, spread the mixture over the top, and sprinkle with grated bread and small bits of butter.

  4. Return the mutton to the oven and bake until light brown.

Serve

  1. Serve with brown sauce seasoned with pickled mushrooms.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton breast
Provides the main meat; boiling first softens it so the bones release easily.
Egg
Binds the herb and onion mixture so it holds together on the meat.
Grated bread
Forms a crumb topping that absorbs fat and browns in the oven.
Drippings
Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown.
Onion
Adds savory flavor and aroma to the herb topping.

The step that matters

Baking until light brown. Baking uncovered after the crumb topping is added allows the surface to dry and brown through the Maillard reaction. Browning too long can dry the crumbs and meat, so watch the color closely.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, parsley, egg, pepper, bread, butter, sauce):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, parsley, egg, pepper, bread, butter, sauce. 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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