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Mutton, Eoebuck Fashion

A braised mutton loin marinated in vinegar, claret, and herbs, then stewed and glazed with walnut ketchup and served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Mutton, Eoebuck Fashion

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the fillet, skin, fat, and bones from the loin of mutton.

  2. Marinate the mutton in a mixture of vinegar, water, claret, carrots, onions, peppercorns, mace, herbs, bay leaves, and salt for 24 hours, turning it halfway through.

Braise

  1. Drain the mutton and place it in a braising pan lined with bacon.

  2. Add a little of the marinade and stew for 3 hours.

Glaze and serve

  1. Glaze the meat and serve with gravy, adding walnut ketchup and a glass of claret.

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. Thyme + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + rosemarytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together621 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton loin
The main meat, which becomes tender as slow stewing breaks down its connective tissue.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps loosen the meat's surface during the long marinade.
Claret
Adds acidity and wine flavour that deepens the sauce and aroma of the braise.
Bacon
Lines the pan, adding fat and savoury flavour that carries into the meat and sauce.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the marinade and braising liquid.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury depth to the marinade and braising liquid.

The step that matters

Stew gently for 3 hours. Keep the liquid at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil. Slow, moist heat converts tough collagen into gelatin, which makes the meat tender and juicy. Boiling tightens the muscle fibres and dries the meat out.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, vinegar, carrot, onion, thyme, rosemary):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, vinegar, carrot, onion, thyme, rosemary. 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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