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Leg of Mutton a LA Provencale

A roasted leg of mutton marinated with Provençal herbs, bacon, ham, anchovies, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Leg of Mutton a LA Provencale

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the meat

  1. Take a leg of mutton that has hung sufficiently to make it tender.

  2. Cut off the shank bone and lift the skin partly without injuring it.

  3. Lard the leg with lardoons of bacon and ham, strips of anchovies, and bits of parsley and tarragon.

  4. If desired, add a few strips of garlic.

Marinate

  1. In an earthenware pan, combine thyme, parsley, chopped onions, bay leaves, coarse pepper, and a little salt.

  2. Pour over the leg of mutton ½ cup of olive oil and the vinegar.

  3. Allow the leg of mutton to marinate for 2 to 3 hours, turning it frequently.

  4. Remove the leg from the marinate and spread the herbs over it, covering with the skin.

Roast and serve

  1. Wrap in buttered paper and roast at 400°F (200°C).

  2. Remove the paper and serve.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Tarragon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together528 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Is the main meat; hanging tenderises it, and it carries all the other flavours.
Lardoons of fat bacon
Melts during roasting, adding fat that keeps the lean meat moist and flavourful.
Olive oil
Carries herb and pepper flavours into the meat during marinating and adds moisture.
Vinegar
Acidity in the marinade gently breaks down meat fibres and brightens the flavour.
Anchovies
Dissolve into savoury depth, adding umami that enriches the roasted meat.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens during roasting.

The step that matters

Wrap in buttered paper and roast at 400°F (200°C). Wrapping the leg in buttered paper traps moisture so the lean meat steams gently rather than drying out at high heat. Removing the paper afterward lets the surface brown and set.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, parsley, tarragon, garlic, thyme, onion):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, parsley, tarragon, garlic, thyme, onion. 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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