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Shoulder of Mutton

A mutton shoulder stuffed with forcemeat, baked, then stewed in gravy with anchovy, catsup, port wine, and lemon pickle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Shoulder of Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mutton

  1. Season the mutton with black pepper, Jamaica pepper, mace, nutmeg, and cloves, and let it marinate overnight.

  2. Flatten the meat with a rolling pin and cover it with forcemeat.

  3. Roll the meat up and bind it with tape.

Cook and serve

  1. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) or half roast it before the fire, basting with gravy.

  2. Once cooled, skim off the fat, dredge with flour, and stew in the reserved gravy.

  3. When cooked, add a pounded anchovy, catsup, port wine, and lemon pickle to the gravy.

  4. Serve the mutton with the prepared gravy.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of mutton
Forms the main body of the dish and provides the meat that is cooked and served.
Forcemeat
Fills the rolled meat, adding a moist, savoury stuffing that is cooked through with the joint.
Flour
Dredged onto the meat before stewing, helping the gravy thicken and coat the meat.
Anchovy
Adds a deep savoury, salty flavour to the finished gravy.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the finished gravy.
Catsup
Adds sweet and tangy flavour to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Skimming the fat before dredging with flour. Fat left on the cooled meat would float into the gravy and make it greasy, and flour dredged over fat clumps instead of thickening smoothly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, nutmeg, clove, flour, anchovy, port wine):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, nutmeg, clove, flour, anchovy, port wine. 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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