Why it works: Mutton and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,019 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Boiled Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Put the leg of mutton into a kettle of boiling water.
Add 1 cup of well mashed rice.
When the water boils, skim it carefully.
Let it boil rapidly for 15 minutes.
Then set the kettle back to simmer for 2 hours.
For more well-done mutton, cook an additional 15 minutes.
Serve with caper sauce.
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 + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 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
- Leg of mutton
- Is the main cut being cooked, becoming tender through long gentle simmering.
- Well mashed rice
- Added to the water, it may help keep the cooking liquid clear and tidy during simmering.
The step that matters
Skim the water when it boils. Foam and impurities rise to the surface as the water heats. Skimming them early keeps the cooking liquid clearer and the meat's flavour cleaner before the long simmer.
“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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