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Mutton Jelly

A gelatinous dish made by simmering mutton shanks and lean beef in water with bread crust, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the shanks in water for several hours and scrub them well.

Cook

  1. Place the shanks, beef, and other ingredients into a saucepan with the water.

  2. Simmer gently for about 5 hours.

Strain and store

  1. Strain the mixture and let it cool.

  2. Remove the fat from the top.

  3. Warm up only the amount you need at a time.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Mutton + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 recipes

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

  3. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

Mutton shanks
Collagen from the bones and connective tissue dissolves into gelatin, giving the broth its jelly-like set.
Lean beef
Adds meaty flavor and extra body to the broth during the long simmer.
Toasted brown crust of bread
Adds a toasted color and roasted aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Simmer gently. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil lets the collagen convert to gelatin slowly while keeping the broth clear. A hard boil breaks up fat and solids, making the finished jelly cloudy and greasy.

“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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