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Savoury Mutton

A mutton stew cooked with butter, onion, flour, herbs, spices, stock, and glaze, served over dry rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Margaret · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Savoury Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stew

  1. Cut 1 lb. of lean mutton into neat pieces about 1 inch square.

  2. Put the pieces into an iron saucepan with 2 ozs. of butter.

  3. When hot, fry an onion in the butter.

  4. Stir in 1 tablespoon of flour to which has been added a teaspoonful of sweet herbs, 1 pinch each of mace and nutmeg, a little salt and pepper.

  5. Add 1 pint of stock and oz. of glaze.

  6. Allow it to boil and then grow cold.

  7. Put in the meat and cook slowly for >? hour.

  8. Serve in a wall of dry rice.

Strain the gravy

  1. Carefully dish the pieces of meat and rub the gravy through a sieve.

Make and fry the cakes

  1. Take scraps of finely-minced meat, to which salt, pepper and onions, or other flavouring has been added.

  2. Mix all ingredients together with the addition of a well-beaten egg and a little gravy, milk, or water.

  3. Have a pan of boiling fat ready, into which drop the mixture in spoonfuls; cook until of a nice golden brown. Serve very hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

473Calories
13 gProtein
2 gFat
98 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hamilton, Margaret. 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. See the original page.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton (in the method)
Provides the main meat flavour and a firm, chewy texture when slowly cooked.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat for richness and carries flavour while the onion and meat fry.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as its starch swells during cooking.
Onion (in the method)
Adds aroma and sweetness as it softens and browns in the butter.
Egg (in the method)
Binds the minced meat mixture so it holds its shape and sets when fried.
Stock (in the method)
Supplies the liquid that becomes the gravy and carries savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Frying the spoonfuls in boiling fat. The fat must be very hot before the mixture goes in. Hot fat sets the egg quickly and browns the outside, while cool fat lets the cakes soak up grease and fall apart.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, nutmeg, pepper. 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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