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Baked Leg of Mutton

A roasted leg of mutton stuffed with forcemeat, larded with bacon, cooked with onion, celery, wine, ketchup, and curry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Baked Leg 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Stuff and lard

  1. Stuff the leg of mutton with the rich forcemeat.

  2. Lard the top and sides of the mutton with bacon.

Braise and serve

  1. Place the mutton in a pan with water, chopped onion, and chopped celery.

  2. Add red wine, mushroom ketchup, and curry powder to the pan.

  3. Bake until cooked through, then serve with the gravy.

  4. Garnish with fried forcemeat balls.

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. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Red wine + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together720 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  4. Celery + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,006 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mutton + mushroomtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together685 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and flavorful as it cooks slowly.
Bacon
Melts fat into the meat as it bakes, keeping the lean mutton moist and adding savoriness.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth to the liquid, helping build the gravy's flavor.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavor to the cooking liquid and gravy.
Rich forcemeat
Fills the cavity with a moist, savory stuffing that flavors the meat from inside.

The step that matters

Bake until cooked through. Mutton must reach a safe internal temperature throughout, and a thick leg can look done outside while the center is still underdone. Checking the thickest part with a thermometer prevents this, and covering the pan with liquid helps the meat stay moist during the long bake.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, celery, red wine, mushroom, ketchup):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, celery, red wine, mushroom, ketchup. 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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