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Shoulder of Mutton

A stuffed mutton shoulder with oysters, roasted or stewed with anchovy-based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Shoulder of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Stuff the shoulder of mutton with bearded oysters, roll it up, and bind it with tape.

  2. Stew the meat in broth with peppercorns, celery, and onions until cooked.

  3. Remove the tape and pour oyster sauce over the meat before serving.

  4. Alternatively, half roast the shoulder, score it, and place it in a Dutch oven.

Make the sauce and finish

  1. Bone and chop the anchovies, melt them in a ladle, and mix with pepper, salt, hot gravy, Port wine, mushroom ketchup, walnut ketchup, and lemon pickle.

  2. Baste the meat with this mixture as it continues to roast.

  3. Once done, place the mutton on a hot dish, skim the gravy, heat if necessary, and pour over the mutton.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  4. Port wine + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Give the stuffing a briny, savoury flavour that seasons the meat from within.
Anchovies
Melt into the sauce to add deep savoury umami that rounds out the gravy.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and fruity depth to the gravy as it reduces.
Hot gravy
Provides moisture and body so the meat stays juicy while basting.

The step that matters

Basting with the sauce as the mutton roasts. Basting adds moisture and flavour to the surface while the meat cooks. If the liquid is too thin or the meat is left unbasted, the outside can dry and the sauce will not coat it well.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, oyster, celery, sauce, pepper, port wine, mushroom):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, oyster, celery, sauce, pepper, port wine, mushroom. 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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