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Boned Leg of Mutton Roasted

A boned leg of mutton roasted with stuffing, onion, and gravy, served with currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Boned Leg of Mutton Roasted

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the leg

  1. Remove the bone from the leg of mutton, keeping the skin intact.

  2. Trim off most of the fat.

  3. Fill the cavity with stuffing, adding the minced onion.

  4. Sew the leg closed to prevent the stuffing from falling out.

  5. Bind and tie the leg compactly.

Roast

  1. Place it in a roasting pan and add 1 cup of hot water.

  2. Roast in a 350°F (175°C) oven, basting occasionally.

  3. Season with salt and pepper when partly cooked.

  4. Once fully cooked, transfer the leg to a warm platter.

Make the gravy

  1. Skim the grease from the drippings.

  2. Add 1 cup of water.

  3. Thicken with dissolved flour.

  4. Serve the gravy in a dish alongside currant jelly.

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

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

  2. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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 roast, and its meat becomes tender and juicy as it cooks.
Stuffing
Fills the cavity, adding moisture and flavour to the inside of the meat as it roasts.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and flavour to the stuffing as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the pan drippings into a smooth gravy.

The step that matters

Roast in a 350°F (175°C) oven, basting occasionally. Because the boneless cut is tied and stuffed, its centre heats slowly, so cooking must be gentle and monitored. Basting keeps the surface moist while it browns evenly.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, onion, pepper, flour):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, pepper, flour. 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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