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Haricot of a Neck of Mutton

A soup made from a neck of mutton with carrots, turnips, celery, asparagus, cabbage lettuce, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,442 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Cut the neck of mutton into chops in single ribs and flatten them.

  2. Fry the chops until light brown.

Make the soup

  1. In a large saucepan, combine the fried chops, water, and sliced carrot.

  2. Stew for 15 minutes, then add turnips, celery, asparagus, and fried lettuce.

  3. Boil until all vegetables are tender; do not thicken the gravy.

Serve

  1. Serve in a tureen or soup dish.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mutton + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + lettucetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together526 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 neck
Provides the meat and rich fat that flavour the broth as it stews.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and body to the broth as it softens.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and soften into the broth during the long boil.
Celery
Contributes savoury, aromatic flavour to the soup.
Asparagus
Adds delicate vegetable flavour and tender texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Boil until all vegetables are tender; do not thicken the gravy.. Vegetables must be cooked fully so their starches and fibres soften, but the broth should stay thin. Thickening comes from starch and reduction, so keeping the gravy loose preserves its light, clear consistency.

Flavor stand-ins for the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, turnip, celery, cabbage, lettuce, pepper):

  1. Leekbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  3. Broccolibetter flavor fit
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, celery, cabbage, lettuce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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