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Leg of Mutton Farced

A stuffed leg of mutton filled with a forcemeat of anchovy, herbs, onion, lemon rind, and spices, baked in wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Leg of Mutton Farced

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Raise the skin all around the leg of mutton.

  2. Remove the lean part and chop it small with the anchovy.

  3. Add herbs, onion, lemon rind, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and bread crumbs to the chopped meat.

  4. Mix these ingredients with the eggs and port wine to make a forcemeat.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the skin with the forcemeat, leaving the bone and shank in place.

  2. Place the leg in a baking dish with the red wine underneath.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for two hours, basting occasionally with the wine.

Finish and serve

  1. When done, skim the fat from the gravy, add brown sauce, mix, and mask the leg with it.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 dish, and its skin pocket holds the forcemeat during roasting.
Eggs
Bind the forcemeat so it holds together when sliced after baking.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and soften the forcemeat, giving it a lighter, moister texture.
Red wine
Sits beneath the leg and bastes it, adding moisture and flavour as it cooks.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the forcemeat.

The step that matters

Basting with the wine during the two-hour bake. Mutton is lean and dries out easily in the oven. Regular basting with the wine keeps the surface moist and helps build flavour in the pan juices that form the gravy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, anchovy, parsley, marjoram, thyme, lemon, nutmeg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, anchovy, parsley, marjoram, thyme, lemon, nutmeg. 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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