Name: Roast Mutton
Ingredients: legs of mutton; breast of mutton; shoulders of mutton; twine; coarse sea salt; garlic cloves; water

Why it works: Garlic and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,368 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Roast Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Remove all skins and bones from the legs, breast, and shoulders of the mutton.
Roll up the breast and tie it with twine.
Make a strong bouillon using the bones, skins, neck, and other unused parts of the mutton.
Add garlic cloves to the bones while preparing the bouillon.
Roast the mutton slowly in an oven at 400°F (200°C) or in kettles over direct heat until fully cooked.
Use the bouillon to enhance the gravy and fill cans after placing a piece of roast in each.

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.

Garlic + clovetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Mutton + garlictop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together673 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Mutton + clovetop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,152 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).