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Haunch of Mutton As Venison

A preserved mutton haunch marinated in olive oil, garlic, spices, vinegar, and molasses, then roasted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Haunch of Mutton As Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Hang the mutton in a cool place for as long as the weather permits.

  2. Remove the outer skin and rub the olive oil into the meat thoroughly.

Make and apply the pickle

  1. In a jug, combine garlic, coarse sea salt, allspice, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and white peppercorns.

  2. Pour the nearly boiling vinegar over the mixture, cover, and let it sit overnight.

  3. Add the pickle to the meat and rub it in for 30 minutes, avoiding disturbing the fat.

  4. Slice the onions and strew them over the meat, turning it twice daily, keeping the onions on top.

  5. Continue this for five days, then wipe the meat dry and rub it with hot molasses for 30 minutes.

Roast and serve

  1. The next day, wipe it clean and roast it like venison.

  2. Serve with liquefied red-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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Allspice + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

  3. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Allspice + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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, whose fat and connective tissue soften and flavour during the long cure and roast.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that infuses the meat during the pickling period.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it deeply during curing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps tenderise the surface and carries the pickle's flavours into the meat.
Onions
Release juices and sweetness as they sit on the meat during the days of curing.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown and caramelise when roasted.

The step that matters

Turning the meat and keeping the onions on top during the five-day cure. Turning the meat regularly keeps the pickle evenly in contact with all surfaces, and leaving the onions on top stops them sitting in the fat. Disturbing the fat layer is avoided because it protects the meat from drying and uneven curing.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, olive, garlic, parsley, thyme, vinegar, onion):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, olive, garlic, parsley, thyme, vinegar, onion. 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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