Why it works: Mutton and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,878 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Boiled Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place a large stewpan of water on the fire to hold the leg.
Saw off the shank-bone and trim a portion of the flap.
Cut a slight slit in the joint of the leg to help it plump.
Boil
When the water boils, add the leg and ensure it is fully covered.
Bring the water back to a boil quickly.
Boil gently for about three hours for a large leg.
Prepare 6 carrots while the leg is boiling.
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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Mutton + carrottop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,878 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh leg of mutton
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender as it simmers slowly in water.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and color to the broth and serve as a side vegetable.
The step that matters
Bring the water back to a boil quickly. Adding the cold leg lowers the water temperature. Returning it to a boil quickly keeps the meat from sitting in lukewarm water, and then a gentle simmer cooks the meat through without toughening its fibers.
“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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